All empires collapse from greed. Rome gathered the plunder of the known world. Virgil described the city on the Tibet as Imeprium sine fine. The Glory of the Empire without End attracted the Visigoths to plunder the fabled wealth of eternity. Not the first nor the last army to lay waste the Eternal City. Yet as much as the invaders looted, there was always more treasure in the ruins to reveal the Splendor of Rome, until all that remained were stone ruins too heavy to be hauled to Ultima Thule.
“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” Augustus (Roman Emperor 27 BC – AD 14)
"Rome was too grand to be burned in a day."
Pascha Ray - unknown poet
Painting by Joseph-Noel Silvestre "The Plunder of Rome"
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