It is interesting that you take the nickname of a Byzantine Emperor. It has been stated that the Byzantines spent their entire existance trying to stave off what they considered was a certain and inevitable destruction at the hands of the barbarians or the islamic infidels. They lived and fought with that 'reality' in their minds for nearly 1000 years. If our societies had half of their valor, we would have nothing to fear.
My favorite part about the guy is that at the end, instead of trying to escape the city in secret and live out a comfortable existence someplace, he led the battle from the front.
When the walls were breached, he tossed aside all of the trappings of royalty and waded into the fight with his men.
They sure do get short shrift with respect to history. Lasting 1000 years and defending Europe from Muslim invasion for most of that isn’t half bad. :)