Will of the Senate - Senate Deliberations II

[Lucjan]

Senator Servius AemiliusThere is much talk of expansion to the Danube against our enemies in the east, and it is not a subject that I would be adverse to...but if conducted in the manner in which I hear much of this talk, I would.

There are rumblings among some senators that would promote a war with Egypt and expansion into Bythinia. This, I feel, would place the empire in far too tenuous of a situation too quickly. A map of the borders proposed by these men would look like this.
Bear in mind this expansion is suggested for the reign of this consul. I cannot condone this. Expanding to such great lengths too quickly will place the empire in an even more dire situation than it faces now. Expanding directly to control the Danube would require taking two provinces held by the Thracians with land on both sides of the Danube, one with the most prominent city on the opposite side, making both of these territories more difficult to defend than these senators would have you believe. On top of this, direct borders with the vast Iberian tribes on the west, borders with the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires on the east, and the possibility of Germanic or Sarmatian tribes devouring the remains of Thrace and presenting yet another vast barbarian territory to our north would place Rome in a position to be taken apart piecemeal by four surrounding empires. Three of these nations have, at this time alone, the ability to go toe-to-toe with Rome, and due to the deplorable state of the legions, undoubtedly win. Our own information states that Iberia and the Ptolemies have the military capacity to wage a war resulting in a draw of success with Rome, and the Seleucids, although it is true their might has waned significantly over the years, still have a military capacity that surpasses us enough to win a war by sheer attrition and weight of numbers, were it to come to such. It is for these reasons that I will not condone such a course of action.

Instead, if any expansion of the Roman empire is to be desired during the course of this consul, I propose an idea more like this.
In such a scenaro, Rome would expand her borders to the provinces of Noricum and Pannonia against Thrace, both of them easily defendable provinces with borders on the edge of the Danube. It would not, however, take Dardania or the Tribus Getae regions from Thrace, both of them being potentially too difficult to defend this early on. Instead, the focus would be on completing the conquest of Illyria and Macedonia. The provinces of Moesia, Paionia and Edonia would offer us a more easily defendable border against both Thrace and the Ptolemies, and provide us with a solid oppertunity to open up trade and the potential of a strong, beneficial alliance with the Ptolemies. Ending the conflict by subdueing Illyria and Macedon and pacifying Thrace's might by pushing its western border to the Danube, would provide the empire time to stop it's headlong expansion and take a breathe. Time to consolidate and solidify the strength of our bolstering empire. Time to focus on solid infrastructure growth and the reorganisation and significant growth of the legions. A solid Rome could pick its allies carefully, and its enemies even more. Why fight three or four empires at once, when we can ally with one or two, and take them one at a time?

Consider my ideas carefully, the bravado of some of our warhawks to "Push to the Danube" shows an inability to truly recognise the state of the legions against the hordes of our barbarian neighbors and the cornered armies of Macedon.

Do not get me wrong, I am strong for advocating an expansion of Rome's territory too, but we are walking a thin line right now, and it would be wiser not to stretch it too thin. I would rather not find that line snap, and see Rome fall into the jaws of a barbarian behemoth.