Are the Founding Fathers Fascinated by the Roman Republic?

i wanted to get your thoughts on the founding fathers were fascinated by the roman republic. Were they interested in rome as a cautionary tale? Or was it more of an emulation? Both, i think. They tried to find a model and then try to figure out what went wrong. I mean, were there poison pills? Were there tragic flaws that did not become apparent until they were manifest? But we can look at their example and put something in our own system that allows us to avoid that mistake.