ABSTRACT
After the Second Punic War, many of the same motives drove Roman imperialism in the West as in the East. The Romans often pursued imperialism more directly in the West during this period. They successfully resumed the conquest of Northern Italy. At the same time, they fought to subdue Spain after taking it from Carthage. There they actively sought territorial acquisition and gave land to thousands of veterans and settlers. The Romans worked out a system of direct imperial rule in the West. At the same time, they tried to assert their will in the eastern Mediterranean without acquiring permanent territorial possessions. Two local factors frustrated Roman efforts to establish a secure eastern frontier: the imperial ambitions of kings descended from Alexander the Great's generals and the attempts of smaller powers to use Rome against them. Also, the Romans' own increasing arrogance, arbitrariness, and avaricious brutality promoted the chaos they abhorred.
