In times of trouble, it is seldom helpful to point fingers, but the Nephites had no one to blame but themselves. They were being smitten on every hand by the Lamanites because of their own wickedness, for this is the only way in which the Lamanites could ever exercise power over the Nephites. As Lehi told Nephi, they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also (1 Nephi 2:23), and They shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in remembrance of me and inasmuch as they will not remember me, and hearken unto my words, they shall scourge them even unto destruction (2 Nephi 5:25). President Benson points out characteristics of the ancient Roman Empire which apply also to the Nephites.
Ezra Taft Benson
"In his book Caesar and Christ, Will Durant, in summarizing the causes of the destruction of the Roman Empire, stated; ’ A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars…’ (An Enemy Hath Done This, p. ix as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 227)