alt Hacker News>By the time of Western Roman Empire collapsing, the realm was Christian for two centuries and gladiator games et al. were banned for so long that no one alive would remember them happening.
That is a fair point. But I believe the Romans were still a pretty brutal and repressive regime right up the the end. And also levied high taxes. Whether the regional powers that replaced them were any better, was a matter of luck I suppose.
During the Gothic Wars of the 6th century, there was an interesting episode when the remaining Roman inhabitants of (much diminished) city of Rome actually defended the city on the Goths' side against their own Eastern Roman brethren, because they considered Gothic rule lighter and more tolerable.
But at nearly the same time, the Goths absolutely destroyed Milan.
History is rarely straightforward.