Some thoughts on my Massiliote Greek game that I abandoned-- raising taxes to very high and letting the cities go rebel isn't a particularly good idea if you have a long way to travel, as that will leave you high and dry with no income. That nearly did me in early in the campaign, when my troops had only just landed in Transalpine Gaul. Luckily I had been hoarding my cash before that, and even then I only just managed to stay in the black by aggressively expanding up north to Lugdunum and west to Narbo Martius and Osca.

Do the demolish-buildings-and-raise-taxes thing only if you're very sure of getting your target provinces within the next couple of turns or so.