The golden age of Roman military might came during the two hundred years that followed Augustus’s accession in 27 b.c. This age was known as the Pax Romana—a time when (by the standards of the day) Rome could offer exceptional stability, peace, and opportunities for prosperity to those who lived under its aegis. It was able to do so because it paid collectively to be protected by the most dangerous army on earth. The Pax Romana frayed and began to unravel after the death of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius in a.d. 180.
