r.a. laffertyBrad Birzer’s article A New Dark Age mentioned the 410 sack of Rome by the Visigoths, the event that prompted St. Augustine to pen City of God. Brad’s article brought to mind the closing passage from one of my favorite works of history:

by R.A. Lafferty

“There is a term placed on everything, even the world. On the night of August 24 of the year 410 the term was finished. One account states that it was at midnight; but a more trustworthy version states that it was about an hour after dark, and that it had begun to rain. At that time the Salarian Gate of Rome was secretly opened by Gothic slaves in the City. The troops of Alaric entered, and their entry was signaled by a giant trumpt blast such as will never be heard again till the last day.

And, on the terrible blast of the Gothic Trumpet, the world came to its end.

It had endured, in the central core of it that mattered, for eleven hundred and sixty-three years.”

The Fall of Rome (1971)

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