In 52 BC, 400 years after the founding of the Roman Republic, Rome had become the richest city in the world, a cosmopolitan city with a population of 1 million, and the center of an embryonic empire. The Roman Republic was founded on the basis of shared power and fierce personal competition, and never allowed for personal dictatorship. But these principles of the Republic were gradually collapsing under the pervasive corruption and moral decline. The ruling class was extravagant and wasteful, and the traditional Spartan discipline and unity had disappeared.