i think you got it right in the end, i just want to point out something that gibbons and everybody else not just seems to miss, but seems to ignore, and i want to tie it to roosevelt's good neighbour policy - because he's really the only major leader in history, that i know of, that seemed to get this point: it helps, in the long run, if you don't make so many enemies through belligerent actions, in the first place. and, here's a thought to ponder that nobody ponders, and nobody ponders to ponder - might rome  have been destroyed by her enemies, in the end, because she went to such great lengths to create them?