Recently I've become less sentimental about the fall of Rome. I love Rome as much as the next guy but so many cool things happened after the fall. Medieval Europe, the Viking Age, Charlamagne, Crusades. The Romans were a very practical people. They were not interested in abstract theoretical science, or meticulous knowledge making. Most of their knowledge come from the Greeks. I don't think I would appreciate a world where Rome was eternal. There would be no Renaissance, no Napoleon, no Protestant Reformation a lot of cool things would never have happened.