There was a saying: all roads lead to Rome. But if you were born in Rome, did you still need to build roads?
Yet Rome, once the magnificent "Eternal City," was breached when slaves revolted during the Gothic invasion. Rome declined as a result, and those who had once proudly believed themselves fortunate to be born in Rome could only watch the Colosseum and opera houses turn into ruins.
Machiavelli believed Rome had weakened because the Romans had handed their military over to the Goths. It seemed they had forgotten how Caesar had risen step by step to become the most powerful man in the Roman Republic.
Gaius Julius Caesar had once traveled to Egypt, but he had not gone there solely to see Cleopatra. During the brutal Roman civil war, he defeated Pompey, who fled in panic and escaped to Egypt.
Sending troops to invade Egypt in pursuit of a traitor was an excellent excuse. It was like Cambyses II of the Persian Empire. Though he had inherited Cyrus the Great's throne according to the order of seniority, he still faced the threat of a younger brother and needed to conquer an ancient, powerful empire to consolidate his rule. So he did everything he could to find an excuse. At first, he demanded that the pharaoh send him an eye doctor. The pharaoh sent a doctor who was utterly unwilling to leave his homeland and go to the barbaric Persian Empire. Harboring resentment, that doctor incited Cambyses II to propose marriage to the pharaoh. The pharaoh did not wish to marry off his own daughter, so he sent the former pharaoh's daughter instead. The former pharaoh's daughter then incited Cambyses II in turn, and Cambyses II found his excuse.
After Caesar drove Pompey away, he still had a potential