This past November of 2016, the citizens of the United States elected its 45th president, Donald J. Trump. A common comparison in several reactionary articles was that the election of Trump was a sign that the United States was falling, just as Rome once had. The modern United States falling condition, in spite of selected similar situations, is not quite as vast in scale to that of the Rome of Late Antiquity. Several generations of authors and historians have had their own opinions on the multiple causes of the decline, or, some argue that it was not a fall, but a period of transformation. The differences in opinions can presumably be traced back to the historical context that each of the historians has lived in. In other words, as time
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Corrado Barbagallo is listed as a co-author, but the focus will be on Ferrero. A proponent of liberalism, Ferrero was deeply against fascism and Benito Mussolini, so much that he was placed under house arrest when he refused to leave Italy in 1925. Ferrero authored several books, a few of which pertain to Ancient Rome, including a five volume series called The Greatness and Decline of Rome. In A Short History of Rome Volume 2, Ferrero details the years of 395-476 A.D. as being full of conflicts and divisions. Starting with Theodosius on his deathbed, the empire is split between his sons Honorius and Arcadius, and consequently, this lead to the creation of the Eastern and Western Empire (p.469). Arcadius went into the care of Flavius Rufinus, who was the praetorian praefect of the East, while Honorius was placed with Stilicho, who was the commander-in-chief of the eastern armies (p.469). Stilicho and Rufinus disagreed over the power of Constantinople and it’s place in the empire. From there, a chain reaction of events occurred, from the rise of Alaric and his attack on Rome, and the eventual arrival the Vandals sacking of Rome in 455, Attila’s invasion of Italy, to the final death of the empire with the infiltrations of the
Corrado Barbagallo is listed as a co-author, but the focus will be on Ferrero. A proponent of liberalism, Ferrero was deeply against fascism and Benito Mussolini, so much that he was placed under house arrest when he refused to leave Italy in 1925. Ferrero authored several books, a few of which pertain to Ancient Rome, including a five volume series called The Greatness and Decline of Rome. In A Short History of Rome Volume 2, Ferrero details the years of 395-476 A.D. as being full of conflicts and divisions. Starting with Theodosius on his deathbed, the empire is split between his sons Honorius and Arcadius, and consequently, this lead to the creation of the Eastern and Western Empire (p.469). Arcadius went into the care of Flavius Rufinus, who was the praetorian praefect of the East, while Honorius was placed with Stilicho, who was the commander-in-chief of the eastern armies (p.469). Stilicho and Rufinus disagreed over the power of Constantinople and it’s place in the empire. From there, a chain reaction of events occurred, from the rise of Alaric and his attack on Rome, and the eventual arrival the Vandals sacking of Rome in 455, Attila’s invasion of Italy, to the final death of the empire with the infiltrations of the