Yeah so true - the parallels are really there for everyone to see these days with Rome. Maybe every society turns into some kind of Caligula form, when it becomes so corrupt - that is why we see it so strong now everywhere in the west, and beyond really. I keep reflecting on the mouse utopia experiment and its end result and how there is a behavioural sink that after generations turns into a type of civilization rot - but it also seems in regarding empires there is a stretching and expansion, that falls under its own weight, while back in the empire, what you see is the consolidated power start to rot in its own apathy. Thanks for the reflection!