As the Roman style of patronage behavior spread to provinces such as Syria (Palestine), its formal and hereditary character changed. The newly rich, seeking to aggrandize family position in a community, competed to add dependents. Formal, mutual obligations degenerated into petty favor-seeking and manipulation. Clients competed for patrons just as patrons competed for clients in an often desperate struggle to gain economic or political advantage. Patronage language is astonishingly common in the