Aah, the Romans. What have they ever, etc…? Sod the aqueducts and the wine et al. Aside from a wonderful, logical language used as a basis for most European speaks, there’s the history. Full of outrageously insane psychopathic rulers much given to seriously violent excesses involving poisons, stabbings, horses and murderous grandmas. Most entertaining. And those Praetorian Guards, eh? A must for any new Imperator was to give them a massive pay rise, as many vestal virgins as they could handle and anything else they asked for. Failure to do this almost always ended in a very messy early demise.