if the emperors or senators had proposed a new way to benefit those who would join the military. If they had done this, then many more people would have joined. However, neither the emperors nor the senators took significant notice of the ailing military, and no one cared to put forth an effort to help it. Since the military had weakened, barbarians passed through and invaded Rome at different times and in doing so robbed money from the Roman treasury. Because of this widespread looting of the Roman treasury by the barbarian invaders, there was a lack of circulatory currency in the western portion of the empire. This resulted in a trade deficit between the western and eastern regions of the empire. In the past, all of the empire had worked together as if it were like one nation. The fact that the two sides were no longer trading with one another caused their relationship to weaken economically, and they no longer worked together as one. As a result, there was a virtual split of the empire (this is before the official split by Constantinople due to Christianity). Since trade had almost stopped between the east and west, and money was low (particularly in the west), and the empire no longer had the luxuries to live with as it did in the past. During this time of heavy taxation, certain necessary everyday things were overlooked in order to pay for taxes. The needs for taxes forced local governments to cut down on funds needed for their cities. Everyday essential tasks including maintenance, structure repair, sanitation and transportation were neglected and forgotten in order to pay for taxes. This led to the crumbling and decay of major Western Roman Cities. As the Empire fell deeper into economic distress, the state would force slaves into manual labor needed to help rebuild the Empire (Guittard, 165). Often these slaves were overused and forced into unnecessary tasks. Naturally, the slaves were unqualified, untrained and thus produce...
