The loyalties of the soldiery and politicians were often effectively bid over by competing generals with astounding nakedness.

Though the most infamous such situation was shortly before the Crisis of the Third Century, when two contenders for the position of Emperor after the death of Pertinax literally laid competing bids for bribing the Praetorian Guard, the normalization of bribery of the soldiery led to ever-escalating attempts to win their favor, even just for the few moments needed to become Emperor.