content: Dude, Nerva to Marcus Aurelius was damn near 100 years, and those guys considered Rome in the early years of Nero's reign, under Seneca and Agrippina Minor to be baller. Then Nero shit the bed, of course, but Vespasian and Titus weren't half bad. What was wrong with Augustus? What about the Republic prior to its 1st century BC decline? Because really, what have the Romans ever done for us?