My Roman exploits usually were driven in surges of wealth and depletion, following a pattern of conquering an area, developing it, building a warchest, conquering a new area, developing it, building a warchest, conquering a new area, etc.

I was a bit taken aback by how ludicrously rich I was when I initially started playing EB as I tend to play defensively. But if you use your resources to their full potential, you can be very successful.