The age-old 'what the Romans did for us.'

First, I believe you're referencing the Monty Python sketch from Monty Python's Life of Brian here. The line is "What have the Romans ever done for us?", but the full one is "but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the freshwater system, roads, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

And it's not without historical precedent. There's a similar narrative in the Talmud--Rabbis discuss how the Romans have brought many contributions to Judean society, but explains how they're still not responsible for the benefits, because the reasons for their benefits were oppressive. Simply put, contemporaries in Judea seem to have been troubled by the success of the Roman Empire at developing Judea.

Judea's a bit of a different case than you're asking about, since Rome didn't leave--it became the ERE/Byzantium, and eventually was conquered in the Muslim expansion. But it is fairly clear that people at the time viewed Rome as a tremendously profound influence.