While the days of the Roman Empire in the popular consciousness are considered for the time development of European civilization, in fact, it was a time of technological stagnation. The reason was the nature of the Roman economy based on slave labor. It made that technological innovations are unprofitable. In addition, political stability and population growth during the Pax Romana also not conducive to the development. In the Malthusian economy, such as the Roman, the average income of the people are always the same, because technological progress is so slow that it causes only population growth. So, war and epidemics in the economy, paradoxically, contributed to the increase in the standard of living (more natural resources for a single person). In this way, the Black Death was an impulse that pushed the economy of medieval Europe to capitalism and the industrial revolution. The increase in wages in England after the epidemic gave rise to the accumulation of capital, and on the other hand, triggered the demand for technological innovation. Had an equally large epidemic occurred in the Empire around 100 AC, it would give a similar effect?