And what was the legacy of Rome? How did they fall?
Rome decayed and collapsed from within. They descended into debauchery and immorality and their light was extinguished. What do you see all around you in this country, today? Perhaps the sole reason we continue to be blessed is that we helped create the modern state of Israel and nutured her to her present strength. The Bible says that those who Bless the children of the Lord shall themselves be blessed, those who curse his children shall be cursed. Are we not slowly falling away from the support of Israel? The Presbyterian Church (the LIBERAL USA wing, not my own fundamentalist PCA wing) has divested itself of all support for Israel. Bad move. Other churches may be following suit. What will be our legacy? Let's hope not the same as that of Rome.
Actually the debauchery was pretty much over by the 100s. What ever you have to say about the Byzantines, they were not debauched. They suffered endless turmoil from conflicts between religious orthodoxy and the human drive to progress, even in the field of religion. The development of heresy, rather than creating a diverse and turbulent religion with depths unplumbed, dragged the power of the state into unknown, and unknowable matters of faith. These conflicts cause the destruction of the Iconoclasts, and created the faultlines of the schisms.