My suggestion is the 80's sci-fi cartoon "Ulises 31".
Do you know the RPG Augusta Universalis?
www.drivethrurpg.com
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The science we know was possible only in the Western civilization thanks Christianity where the Nature has eternal rules can't be changed by feys or genies. The first universities, public hospital and orphans were built by the Church. And this faith allowed an unity between the different peoples of the Empire. Don't believe all said in Umberto Eco's "the Name of the Rose" or that type of books.
You have to remember the serious social crisis in the Roman empire, not only some epidemics, but demographic.
There was not only gladiator games and slavery, but also sex with underage was allowed, and foundling (abandoned children), the exposure of unwanted newborns wasn't rare.
From wikipedia about infanticide:
The historical Greeks considered the practice of adult and child sacrifice
barbarous,
[27] however, the exposure of newborns was widely practiced in
ancient Greece, it was even advocated by Aristotle in the case of congenital deformity — "As to the exposure of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live.”
[28] In Greece, the decision to expose a child was typically the father's, although in Sparta the decision was made by a group of elders.
[29] Exposure was the preferred method of disposal, as that act in itself was not considered to be murder; moreover, the exposed child technically had a chance of being rescued by the gods or any passersby.
[30] This very situation was a recurring motif in
Greek mythology.
[31] To notify the neighbors of a birth of a child, a woolen strip was hung over the front door to indicate a female baby and an olive branch to indicate a boy had been born. Families did not always keep their new child. After a woman had a baby, she would show it to her husband. If the husband accepted it, it would live, but if he refused it, it would die. Babies would often be rejected if they were illegitimate, unhealthy or deformed, the wrong sex, or too great a burden on the family. These babies would not be directly killed, but put in a clay pot or jar and deserted outside the front door or on the roadway. In ancient Greek religion, this practice took the responsibility away from the parents because the child would die of natural causes, for example, hunger, asphyxiation or exposure to the elements.
The practice was prevalent in
ancient Rome, as well.
Philo was the first philosopher to speak out against it.
[32] A letter from a Roman citizen to his sister, or a pregnant wife from her husband,
[33] dating from 1 BC, demonstrates the casual nature with which infanticide was often viewed:
"I am still in Alexandria. ... I beg and plead with you to take care of our little child, and as soon as we receive wages, I will send them to you. In the meantime, if (good fortune to you!) you give birth, if it is a boy, let it live; if it is a girl, expose it.",
[34][35] "If you give birth to a boy, keep it. If it is a girl, expose it. Try not to worry. I'll send the money as soon as we get paid."[36]
In some periods of
Roman history it was traditional for a newborn to be brought to the
pater familias, the family
patriarch, who would then decide whether the child was to be kept and raised, or left to die by exposure.
[37] The
Twelve Tables of
Roman law obliged him to put to death a child that was visibly deformed. The concurrent practices of
slavery and infanticide contributed to the "background noise" of the
crises during the Republic.
[37]
Infanticide became a
capital offense in Roman law in 374
AD, but offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted
