From: jtem01@gmail.com   
      
    SolomonW wrote:   
   > > The actual mystery here was never why Rome fell   
   > > but how & why it lasted as long as it did! I mean,   
   > > it was a horribly corrupt, top-down society where   
   > > the elites battled each other without the slightest   
   > > regard for the well being of the empire. It should   
   > > never have lasted even a century!   
      
   > Were Romes enemies less corrupt?   
      
   Not sure how that would alter what was happening inside   
   of Rome.   
      
   In all honestly, as far as I can tell the only thing   
   stopping the Industrial Revolution from happen in ancient   
   Roman times, instead of the 18th century, was the Roman   
   elite. If they had only stopped being such vile, evil,   
   selfish douche bags they may have touched off a technological   
   quantum leap that would have given them the same advantages   
   over all of their enemies -- the entire planet -- that   
   European colonial powers had over the natives they crushed.   
      
      
      
      
      
   -- --   
      
   http://jtem.tumblr.com/tagged/halloween/page/8   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)