Magnificent Rome was built by slaves, and it was also destroyed by slaves. This was not merely because slaves revolted when foreign invaders attacked Rome.
With slaves available, employers no longer wanted to hire free citizens, whose wages were higher. Many of those free citizens had once been farmers who lost their land. Grain from Egypt and Syria, used to offset taxes, drove down Rome's grain prices. Then there was the tax-farming system: nobles auctioned off tax collection rights, and the highest bidder gained the right to levy taxes in a region. Tax farmers would inevitably extract more taxes from the locals; no one did business at a loss. Roman farmers, who had never earned much to begin with, had to endure heavy taxes as well as the risks of natural disasters. The land was theirs, but buying seeds required money. They could obtain money for seeds and other supplies by mortgaging their land to nobles. Large estates replaced smallholdings, and their owners would not employ tenant farmers, but slaves. As a result, farmers fled to the big cities in search of work, only to face slave competition in the labor market.
Men who went off to war returned home to find that their families had either left the area or remained at home, living in hardship as they waited for them. Recruitment then became difficult. After military reforms, large numbers of mercenaries appeared, and the soldiers of the Roman legions recognized only their own commanders, not the authority of the nobles. Civil war followed, with generals slaughtering one another. Caesar eventually won, only to be assassinated by Republican nobles.
Brutus won "freedom" for Rome. Once the initial shock of the assassination faded, some senators praised the conspirators, but the masses showed little enthusiasm. No one responded to Brutus and