The barbarians finally succeeded in destroying the Roman Machine, but not for the reason that they had become any stronger. They had not become any stronger, but the Roman Machine had become weaker. It had become weaker for the reason that the men in charge of it had not taken the proper care of it. They failed to take proper care of it, for the reason that they were not the proper kind of men to have charge of that kind of machine. The reason for this was that the Roman people did not see to it that they put the proper kind of men in charge of their Machine. Someone may say that Rome was an autocracy, and that there are no autocracies now. True, but republics have been inefficient, just as often, and in as great a degree as autocracies have. The United States under President Buchanan, for instance, was excessively inefficient; while the Roman autocracy under Octavius was exceedingly efficient. But whether a government is autocratic or democratic, the degree of civilization must depend in the main on the people themselves. Even the power and genius of Charlemagne could not at once make Europe civilized; and even the power and bestiality of Commodus could not at once make Rome uncivilized. In every nation, the rulers and the people re-act upon each other, and each makes the other in a measure what they are. A people that are strong and worthy will not long be governed by men who are weak and unworthy. If a nation continues to have weak and unworthy rulers, it is because the people themselves are weak and unworthy. Therefore, it is an insufficient explanation of the breaking down of the Roman Machine to declare that the Roman emperors were what they were. The Roman emperors reflected the Roman people, or they would not have remained Roman emperors. If the Roman people had been as strong individually and collectively as they were in the days of Octavius and Trajan, no such emperors as later sat on the throne would have been possible. But the Roman people gradually deteriorated, morally, mentally, and even physically; and inefficient government was one of the results. What caused the deterioration of the Roman people? The same thing that has caused the deterioration of every other great people that have deteriorated--the softening influence of wealth and ease.