Skeletal evidence from the remains of Pompeii's elite women that died as a result of the eruption (beyond childbearing age) shows that the average number of children they had given birth to was less than the two required to maintain population levels.
The reign of Nero had witnessed a wave of ancient metrosexuality (known then as mollitia - culpable softness) and parents of both sexes were becoming less well-disposed towards the civic duty of weplenishing the wanks of Wome's quack legions. Inheritance law and the clearly-understood dangers of pregnancy compounded this decline in manly values.
