The quality of life and length of life for people under Roman rule was significantly better than during the dark ages of serfdom. The Romans had working plumbing and specialization of labor; all that went away during the dark ages. They also had learning, and working legal system, written history, etc. The dark ages didn't; that's why it's called the "dark ages": no one bothered to write anything down because they were all uneducated and didn't keep records. It's really weird how modern people are now trying to whitewash the dark ages; I simply fail to see how it's an improvement to abandon education and specialized labor and technology and go work in fields as a serf.