The Rise and Fall of the Praetorian Guard

Most of the professional officers in the armies were actually angling themselves for a spot in the Praetorian Guard. The civilian population was left at the mercy of the regime. Tacitus describes that the trials paid no heed to gender or age. Being your citizens, children, men, and women were all hauled before the courts, tried, and executed. It became a crime to even linger where the corpses lay in mourning a dead friend or relative for too long.