What attracts you to Late Rome?

[Timianus]

What I find truly remarkable is how long the institutions in the west were able to hold out given the constant civil wars, poor leadership, plagues, etc.

Well, these things were far from constant.

A civil war nearly every generation qualifies as "constant" in my book. Often overlooked is the devastation caused by wars....skilled craftsmen are killed, crops are plundered or burned, cities sacked, infrastructure destroyed, trade and travel comes to a halt .....it takes a while for an area to recover from a major conflict.

Late Empire

Civil wars of the Tetrarchy (306–324), between the co-emperors of the Roman Empire, starting with the usurpation of Maxentius and the defeat of Severus, and ending with the defeat of Licinius at the hands of Constantine I.
Conflict between Constans and Constantine II: 340
Roman civil war of 350–351 AD, between Constantius II and Magnentius - victory to Constantius.
Roman civil war of 360–361 AD, between Constantius II and Julian the Apostate - victory to Julian.
Roman civil war of 387–388 AD, between Theodosius I and Magnus Maximus - victory to Theodosius I.
Roman civil war of 394 AD, between Theodosius I and Arbogast - victory to Theodosius I.