I know infared has said some fucked up stuff recently, but he is just correct here.

The next word in the book after the quote BadEmpanada used is literally "But". Lenin is saying that the imperialism of rome is essentially different from that of modern finance capital. Super dishonest from BadEmpanada.

Full quote:

Colonial policy and imperialism existed before the latest stage of capitalism, and even before capitalism. Rome, founded on slavery, pursued a colonial policy and practised imperialism. But “general” disquisitions on imperialism, which ignore, or put into the background, the fundamental difference between socio-economic formations, inevitably turn into the most vapid banality or bragging, like the comparison: “Greater Rome and Greater Britain.” [5] Even the capitalist colonial policy of previous stages of capitalism is essentially different from the colonial policy of finance capital.