Rome was truly horrendous for sure the Engineering that went on was mostly misguided / misdirected.
I wonder how many brilliant Engineers lost their lives for attempting to oppose the system, which I am sure a lot of them would have secretly hated.
By the time you write of, actually most people were in lifelong debt, just as now, they didn't dare oppose the system lest they become slaves, joining the damnati.
Then there was that guy who did dare question the system of profit, and look what happened to him, they nailed him to a cross.
Isn't it strange and ironic, how Christianity has become a weapon, to ensure that the System that Christ was opposed to, has again manifested, and is shitting all over most of us, all over again?