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Indeed. I'm getting further into Grant's book and I am surprised to find that the good emperors were largely sandwiched in the principate, the earlier, less troubled half of the empire. Of the seven I've identified so far as mostly worthwhile rulers (Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), five of them ruled back-to-back in a period remarkably devoid of trouble.The instability of the imperial system itself seems to have been a major trouble: between the Praetorians and distant legions, emperors were constantly fighting to shore up their reign. The Crisis of the Third Century, in which something like 20-30 emperors reigned in a span of 50 years (each one arriving in Rome long enough to kill his predecessor and reign for an average of two years), resulted in Rome breaking into three distinct, although short-lived, empires -- Gallic in the west, Palmyrene in the east. This was only averted, again, by a few decent emperors (Aurelian and Claudius II 'Gothicus'), but Rome came perilously close to death in those troubled years.
Indeed. I'm getting further into Grant's book and I am surprised to find that the good emperors were largely sandwiched in the principate, the earlier, less troubled half of the empire. Of the seven I've identified so far as mostly worthwhile rulers (Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), five of them ruled back-to-back in a period remarkably devoid of trouble.
The instability of the imperial system itself seems to have been a major trouble: between the Praetorians and distant legions, emperors were constantly fighting to shore up their reign. The Crisis of the Third Century, in which something like 20-30 emperors reigned in a span of 50 years (each one arriving in Rome long enough to kill his predecessor and reign for an average of two years), resulted in Rome breaking into three distinct, although short-lived, empires -- Gallic in the west, Palmyrene in the east. This was only averted, again, by a few decent emperors (Aurelian and Claudius II 'Gothicus'), but Rome came perilously close to death in those troubled years.