I’m currently in the middle of reading a book about the fall of Rome and the rise of medieval Europe. (Sounds like a real page turner does it? Move over Stephen King.) I haven’t always enjoyed reading books like this. It must have something to do with my age. It seems the more history I come to have, the more history I come to love.
While discussing the various reasons that the towering nation of Rome crumbled into dust, Thomas Cahill (the book’s author), provides a tantalizing tidbit to consider. Cahill wrote,
“Rome [either] fell because of inner weakness, [whether] social or spiritual; or Rome fell because of outer pressure – the barbarian hordes.”
As Cahill points out, historians continue to be divided over the root cause of Rome’s demise. Like the fabled tragedy of Humpy Dumpty, we know that Rome once sat on a “great wall” and had a “great fall.” We also know that, despite the efforts of many men, it could not be put back together again. But no one seems to know exactly why this Roman Humpy Dumpty fell in the first place.
To this, Cahill adds an interesting conclusion.
Cahill asserts…
