To be fair, based on what I saw in NeW Vegas most people HAD forgotten about Rome. Even the PC has a line in which he asks one of the companions why he speaks the Legion language when he says a Roman phrase. The people who have learned about the ancient Rome and know that Caesar is imitating an older culture are few and all are either scientists or other learned persons. (There were a few ghouls who had lived before the war as well in New Vegas but I don't remember what they said about the Legion.)
AND the Legion had orders to erase all history and were destroying books so that people (and the members of the Legion) wouldn't realise that their leader is just a historical re-enactor who went insane.
Well, I never said that historical knowledge is basically the same as it was in pre-war society (the Kings are living proof of that). I just didn't like Art's suggestion that after 300 years of scraping civilization back together with the aid of the descendants of pre-war peoples (most prominently Vault City), nobody would have any resources on ancient history. It's just extremely improbable that nothing would have survived for educated persons to take advantage of. It's likewise improbable that there would be no educated persons.
Well, like I said, somewhere in the game it is specifically mentioned that the Legion WAS trying to get rid of everyone who knew about the Roman history.
And Ironbite:
a) I was partially joking about the insane part, but trying to make yourself into a God-Emperor does not seem like the thing a stable person would do and Caesar does seem to have delusions of grandeur.
b) The "re-enactor" bit was a pure joke.
c) I always felt that the Legion was really impractical. Caesar had some tactical know-how from books and managed to conquer primitive tribes but the Legion wastes a lot of their potential. Their hate for technology (apart from guns apparently) made them rely on berserkers with machetes while the wastes have several groups that have retained firearms and even energy weapons. Their ban on medical technology is just idiotic
and even Caesar needs to cheat on that since he has that tumor.
and relying on slavery does cause problems as well. All in all, it seemed to me that he had created a nation that would only survive on feeding on new victims, they would constantly need to conquer new tribes and settlements to gain more slaves and resources just to feed themselves AND then he believed that he could change the Legion into a peaceful and enlightened society simply by conquering NV and gaining his "New Rome." Even without outside interference the Legion would have turned on itself after Caesar's death.
d) I don't see how Ulysses was responsible for the Legion's fall. He helped them gain new tribes and set things in motion for the destruction of New Canaan (if it hadn't been for that meddling Courier 6.) In fact, Courier 6 is the one who chooses wether the Legion wins or looses. Well, Ulysses did set him up to transport the Chip, but if you are going to give him credit for the fall of Legion just for that, you might as well say that Benny is responsible for the fall of Legion. If he had shot better or simply bothered to check for pulse rather than burying his victim alive (after that grand talk about not being a Fink) the Courier would have died there.