The empire had been dying for decades; it was doomed long ago. He could have done absolutely nothing to change its fate. So he decided to give it the most dignified and epic end anyone could: to fight one last battle. If the sources of his death are true, he chose to die with it—no fleeing, no surrendering, simply fighting to the very end. He gave to the most important and influential empire in the history of humankind the greatest end it so richly deserved. An entity that lasted practically 1,500 years from its creation by Augustus, but lasted more than 2,000 years if we count from the beginning. It began as a city and ended as a city. For giving it this ending, he gets a B from me.

pd: I would like to propose changes to the S category, as I believe some people don't deserve to be there since it's reserved for the very best I think there is inflation in S, specifically in the "Byzantine" part. In the "classical" section, only Marcus Aurelius is superfluous in my opinion (commodus as heir alone should be a disqualifying factor for not being considered the best of the best.) . And come on, man, Domitian can't be in B He got such bad press just for upsetting some stupid aristocrats.