This chapter considers the importance of imperialism to the Roman self-image and to Roman political life. It suggests that the provincials, as early as the reign of Augustus, began to propose their own models for the Roman community, ones in which the distinction between citizens and aliens yielded to that between those within and those outside the empire. It argues that the desire on the part of aliens to identify themselves as Roman reveals again the poverty of citizenship.

This chapter considers the importance of imperialism to the Roman self-image and to Roman political life. It suggests that the provincials, as early as the reign of Augustus, began to propose their own models for the Roman community, ones in which the distinction between citizens and aliens yielded to that between those within and those outside the empire. It argues that the desire on the part of aliens to identify themselves as Roman reveals again the poverty of citizenship.