Abstract
The issue of societal sustainability is relevant to both modern and ancient civilizations. Ancient Rome was defined and influenced by the issue of sustainability because it was integral to the fundamental structure of the Roman society. In the 5th Century CE, the fall of the Western Roman Empire took place because of consequences that resulted from the issue of sustainability. The societal factors of grain production, military policy, and labor markets all served to influence the sustainability of the Roman West. Roman military policy defined the nature of the Roman economy and established the type of labor system that it employed. Free and unfree labor markets structured the agrarian economy and formed the Roman system of internal taxation and rent collection. Local and commercial grain producers were relied upon to maintain the populations of the Roman West, uphold the Roman military, and sustain the growing servile populations.