ABSTRACT
The evidence considered in the last four chapters has tended to suggest that in the empire of the first two centuries ad the Roman presence and Roman influence was very uneven. Strong links between rulers and ruled might be forged permanently through the adoption of Roman local constitutions and law and rather less permanently through the personal relationships of patronage and the accessibility of the emperor to leading provincials. However, although the documented Roman connections are striking, they must be seen against a background of an empire where for the most part the impact of central authority was intermittent and localised and a great deal of cultural diversity persisted. We have evidence for the survival of non-Roman local constitutions and legal rules. The very nature of the grant of Roman citizenship reveals it as a special privilege. Patronage and personal contact with the emperor depended on human circumstances which could not be infinitely reproduced. It is important, therefore, to consider factors which contributed to a perception of Roman authority and of the congruence of the empire, which reached outside the circle of provincials with strong political or social ties to Rome.
