St. Augustine argues that without justice, an empire is ultimately no different from a large-scale criminal organization:
“Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a large scale? What are criminal gangs themselves but petty kingdoms? A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound together by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention. If this villainy is enlarged by the accession of abandoned men to such a size that it acquires territory, establishes a base, captures cities and subdues peoples, it then openly arrogates to itself the title of kingdom, which is conferred on it in the eyes of the world, not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity.”