They were like Barbra Streisand and other celebrities of today who covet the beach property for their villas and palaces.
:') When ya got a lot more wealth than ya need, and have hundreds of new slaves to put to work, ya buy (or more likely, confiscate) some land out in the country and put 'em to work farming it and caring for the herds and flocks. Of course, that just makes ya wealthier, so when some general leads the legions down to pulverize, say, the non-Romans in the Bay of Naples, and ya hear about how nice it is, well...