> For example, early in ancient empires, many rose in status via winning military battles, or perhaps by building new trading regimes. But later in such empires

> For example, early in ancient empires, many rose in status via winning military battles, or perhaps by building new trading regimes. But later in such empires, status was counted more in terms of your connections to other statusful people. Which led to neglect of military success, and thus empire collapse. Is this really a good example? Building an empire and holding it are different things. Many empires collapse from succession disputes and rebellion rather than a lack of military success over rivals.