Septimius Severus took pride in his Carthaginian roots, and that’s the beginning of trouble in the Empire; letting some middle eastern cultist teenager who’s also being managed by some lying conniving ***** was the last step into the chaos of most of the 3rd century. The disease outbreak that hit the Romans also hit the Chinese, the Persians, and Rome’s various barbarian neighbors, which is why the results weren’t worse.
Every so often, God throws a monkey wrench into the human machine to slow it down and even reverse its course for a while. He has to, else we would have destroyed ourselves with nuclear weapons a thousand years ago..............