 and he came to rome and what happened the senators fled to asia because they were political crooks they were career politicians they had enriched themselves at the expense of the people there was a debt crisis it's like two thousand and eight on steroids there was a debt crisis in rome the people had all kinds of debts they couldn't pay back and back in that time if someone couldn't pay a debt it wasn't like you let your house go they took your children and sold them into slavery