Quote Originally Posted by chksng19
As the saying went from Roman Mothers to their sons, "Come back with your shield, or on it." The custom declined. So did Rome.
Actually, that was the Spartans. Rome's military was a professional force, not Spartan style citizen soldiers.

The real strength of Rome was it's civil power. Every Roman had a stake in his state, and a reason to follow the laws and customs. A perfect example was Hannibal's invasion of the Italian Penninsula. Hannibal trampled the professional forces sent against him into the dust; but Rome did not fall. Her people rallied, made a new army, and kicked Carthaginian butt all the way back to Carthage itself.

Rome fell due to two things: external pressure and internal failure. The barbarians just kept coming, one tribe after another. But far worse, the Roman civil contract was broken, and it became every man for himself. Without that unity, Rome had no chance; and it's because they
maintained that unity that Eastern Rome, Byzantium, survived another 800 years.