Paris and the fall of Rome

Boston Globe (hat tip - Hot Air) ^ | 11/16/15 | Niall Fegurson

[jocon307]

I am not going to repeat what you have already read or heard. I am not going to say that what happened in Paris on Friday night was unprecedented horror, for it was not. I am not going to say that the world stands with France, for it is a hollow phrase. Nor am I going to applaud President Hollande's pledge of "pitiless" vengeance, for I do not believe it. I am, instead, going to tell you that this is exactly how civilizations fall.

Here is how Edward Gibbon described the Goths’ sack of Rome in August 410 AD:

"In the hour of savage license, when every passion was inflamed, and every restraint was removed . . . a cruel slaughter was made of the Romans; and . . . the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies . . . Whenever the Barbarians were provoked by opposition, they extended the promiscuous massacre to the feeble, the innocent, and the helpless . . ."

Now, does that not describe the scenes we witnessed in Paris on Friday night?

[aquila48]

Oops. My bad.

[aquila48]

Except that it’s not an invasion, it’s an invitation!

Or should I say, an invasion by invitation.

[CatoRenasci]

Much of the initial influx of the various barbarian tribes into the Roman Empire involved their permitted settlement in Roman territory as they arrived [i]en masse[/i] from the East at the Danube and other borders in desperate straits.... it only turned into invasions after a considerable while....

[aquila48]

You’re right... In fact wasn’t there a famous battle or event associated with that that marked the beginning of the end of Rome?