"Rome wasn't built in a day" was considered a significant phrase due to the amount of shit Romans expected to build in a day.

A peculiar battle showing Rome's military engineering feat was at Siege of Alesia. Vercingetorix was held up in the fortified city and gleefully waiting to rout the besieging Romans once help arrived. To his shock and horror, Caesar's army quickly got to building 2 sets of fortified walls, facing both inwards and outwards, around the Gaul's own fortifications in a few weeks. Essentially building a fort around the enemies fort so to speak. When the Gallic reinforcement came, they were hindered greatly by the walls and defensive works, coordinated strikes against the Romans became too overbearing and they retreated. Already facing starvation and the situation becoming utterly hopeless, Vercingetorix surrendered and Gaul finally fell to the Romans.