administration being more and more taken by foreign mercenaries officered by Romans. When they divided at last into warring factions the empire fell, unable to keep out invading armies.

During the Roman Republic, the function of the military was defined as service to the "Senatus Populusque Romanus" - an agency designated by SPQR on public inscriptions. Its main body was the senate, which met in a building still extant in the forum of Rome. Its decrees were handed off to the two chief officers of