[mlocher]

Ever hear about Hobbes' State of Nature, where life is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short'.

I think Hobbes was describing the Dark Ages. An omen?

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

I think Hobbes was describing the Dark Ages.

I think not. He was describing a theoretical state pre-existing all civil society. Also the term 'Dark Ages' is a bit of a canard, at least in its later stages following the Germanic tribes settling into their new digs. Of course the manorial system of serfdom was tough, but not generally brutal, and originated in late antiquity and continued, in the West, well into modern times.