Rome is great. Rome is grand. Rome is immortal. Rome is never gone. Rome is fallen.
Once, a long time ago, he walked around and had a body and happiness and culture and people. Once, Rome was the one everyone wanted to be like. Rome was the one everyone thought would live forever, with his ability to be able to reinvent himself and pull off all sorts of ideas nobody else would ever have dared to do.
You see, this is why Rome fell. Because he was immortal, he could not live the way a regular nation could. He fell and died and came back to life everywhere else in everyone else. Maybe in greatness, yes- some nations are happy and proud to say what they or their people have accomplished, like a Golden Age achievement that would have laurels and jewels and others saying there would never again be anything like this.
And they kept on trying- kept on emulating a Golden Age long past, kept on trying to live in a year with a number too small to fit. Kept on trying to outdo themselves over and over again, be better every single time, building on top of a mountain over and over again until the entire pile fell and crushed them. Fell and crushed them before the happy smile and shining, idealistic eyes could change their position or ambition.
Or they tried and tried and tried to do something, anything to make them live forever when everyone knows, no nation can do that. Stretched and reached and tried and kept on smiling because they couldn't stand not to keep their illusion there for others but mainly themselves, until the hairline cracks just grew to be too many, and they shattered. Shattered like thin ice, water that tried to flow but didn't have a path to take and just spilled everywhere until the ground ate it up.
Or maybe they had some steadiness, but didn't know how to use it. Their people just kept raging and rioting and asking for something that a nation did not know how to give. Eventually they forgot about giving and gave out. They could not stand to see their people in horrible condition and hurting others, they just did not know how to stop anything. They might be still intact, but all they can see in their distant eyes is the very thing that made them what they are. The very thing that grabbed hold of them and didn't let go.
Or maybe they had greatness but didn't care anymore. Some nations just don't, they have everything one day and the next, everything's a mess. Their land will be destroyed, their people don't pay attention to anything, and all they'll do is ignore it. One day they might frantically try to turn it around. But chances are, one day they'll be asked, "what happened?" and they'll stare at you blankly. They won't answer. After a while, nobody does.
The nations say "I want to have the greatness of Rome." They do not realize they can have the greatness and the end that comes with it. It is not a one-but-not–the-other deal. But sometimes, this is realized too late. This is what immortality gets them.
Rome fell. Everyone does.