ABSTRACT
The classical civilizations built stronger states than most of their predecessors had done, capable of operating over the new domains. On the whole, the civilization that arose in the Mediterranean, based first in Greece and then in Rome, developed less systematic commitment to the possibility, and perhaps even the desirability, of peace than was true in classical China. So the comparative assessment may involve more than the classical period itself, another reason to examine it critically. Even if the comparative claim is correct, of course, it will also be important to acknowledge several major developments, in thought and in statecraft, involving peace, in both Greece and Rome. Rome also suffered from periodic internal disorder, which could focus attention more on internal stability than on peaceful relations more broadly. Obviously, this history as with all the classical empires involved recurrent warfare and careful attention to military institutions and policies on the part of the imperial government.
