The mighty Claudius

[Zeibek]

I entirely agree with you that in general they would not feel "guilty" for the smae reasons we might do today. However, I do believe there was a section of Roman society that idealised the "barbarian" way of life due to its "natural" and "uncorrupted" nature. And furthermore this minority would view what we now call Romanisation as a corrupting influence on that ideal. Im aware that this is not a simplistic topic, but as you are clearly a knowledgeable historian I will assume you know what Im talking about without going into all the details here and now...

Are you sure you have actually read about this and aren't simply unconsciously projecting your own views on romanisation into the ancient world? Sure, there was Tacitus and a few other intellectuals who questioned Rome's policies, but they could be compared to the Americans who were agaisnt the Iraq war after 9/11: a very small minority who hardly echoed the opinion of any conspecific segment of society. Also the fact that they resented Rome's genocidal policies doesn't mean that they in any way idealised "the barbarian way of life".