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You talk about the lifestyle of 0.1% of a civilization that was decadent on the verge of collapse as if it were the norm of the day, or any other day. And this article talks as if we could draw some generalizations from that.

Pah! ~

"Decadent"? Get over the Caligula movies and the lifestyles of the Emporers you see on the History Channel- the men who built the Roman Empire were not perfect but neither were they wine slushing hedonists. And it was hardly .01 percent of the population. Roman Soldiers were free Citizens at the time of Ceaser and that was a heck of a lot of families. This was the system- and it is hardly unique to Roman civiliazation- the greater or extended family- was the norm for most of human history. Our little families now- in which it is a miracle if we know our paternal Great Grandmother's maiden name have not even a tenth of the strength of a middle class ancient Roman family in which every member of the family could trace back their line for hundreds of years and worshipped and respected their ancestors.

Ask an ancient Roman if two "gays" could bet married and he wouldn't even know what the heck you were talking about as "Gay" wasn't even a concept. Two men "marrying"? He wouldn't even understand you and think you were crazy.

It is our time in which we entertain this idiocy- not theirs.

You talk about the lifestyle of 0.1% of a civilization that was decadent on the verge of collapse as if it were the norm of the day, or any other day. And this article talks as if we could draw some generalizations from that.

To say the average Roman was any more decadent than the average American is ignorant. Orgies and uber-decadence were the province of the incredibly rich layabout class. For the average man on the street, life consisted of hard work and a fairly boring family life.

When was Roman society on the verge of collapse due to decadence? If anything, one of the main causes of collapse of the Western Empire was the spread of Christianity.