Your points are indeed well taken. I consider the Holy Roman Empire to better represent barbarity than Theodoric's Ostrogoths, and Justinian and Theodora of Byzantium yet worse.
The Pax Romana that lingered at the fall of the Western Roman Empire remained a considerably civilizing relic of Rome's Republican history, and Theodoric endeavored while he lived to maintain that peace, extending it for two more decades of relative prosperity.
Representative democracy is neither, IMHO. A mechanism Hive demonstrates all necessary parts of that enables both direct democratic votes, and delegations of authority on specific or general matters, as well as enabling funding of proposals specifically, that thereby prevents budgetary black holes and operations contrary to the interests of funders, is entirely potential to free people today.
Completely voluntary participation in funding and voting is potential of eradicating the vast majority of government abuses. It is something we should do.
Thanks!