Was the Late Roman Empire Corrupt

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The modern society views corruption as bribery, lust for power, and favors. With a more advanced society, mostly everyone is educated on morals and as children, they have teachers and parents to install and enforce those morals . In the Roman society corruption, by our society's definition, was part of their system and is part of their moral code. So was the late Roman Empire corrupt? I believe it depends on your point of view. Under Justinian rule , a Imperial law made officials who work with the Judiciary department illegal to work both as a commercial ventures and a official in the Imperial bureaucracy. The reasoning was because Justinian's legislation wanted to ensure that the income was strictly from their official activates so they could focus more on work rather than their personal business. Morally this seems like a very strict way to control the employees and to make sure that their priority is their job. At that time it was viewed as a regular law passed by legislation, although most of them had different sources of income. Fees and income seems to play a huge part of Roman society. It is explained how John Lydus a lawyer, increased his chances of advancement when reforms carried out by himself increased fees and lowered income. As most employees had different sources of income, they decided to quit leaving vacant positions open. Although this could have been just ironic that the reform that he enacted just advanced him in his career, I view it as a plan that he devised so he could have a higher income. Almost everyone in society now will view this as corrupt but , Roman society will most likely view this as the best plan to remove competition. In the Cappadocain's reform of the judicial side placed the highest official in the Praetroian Prefecture in charge of all administration and the fee-income . The cornicularius was to be
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