The question I want to know is.
What marks the threshold between the old system, and the Byzantine reforms that see the ERE as a proto-state instead of an army with a state in the West?
I suspect part of it is several emperors - starting with Diocletian - trying to bludgeon the system into shape, whereas the classic Roman thing to do treated administration as at best a career stage.
But
1) martial glory
2) political power
3) ?
4) Profit!
is an unhealthy basis for empire.
"For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it."
That's the model you need. When the Emperor says jump, "at me with a dagger" should NOT be what his rivals finish the sentence with.