[gothic-l] Rome Becoming a Sewer

[Bertil Haggman]

No wonder western Rome was going down.

Orosius in in his _Seven Books of History Against Pagans_
catalogued the disaster of Rome and previous civilizations. He
drew particular attention to the moderation of the Gothic
conquerors in 410 AD. They did far less damage than Nero's
fire, respected church treasure and left those unmolested that
had sought sanctuary. One of Orosius theories is that the people
of Rome deserved chastisement for their frivolity, lewdness and
blasphemy. The Goths, so Orosius, were meting out punishment.

Of course the Vandals were not so moderate as the Goths in
429 AD but they introduced law and order. They rooted out pimps
and prostitutes forbidding adultery.

Salvianus, the Presbyter of Marseilles concluded that Christianity
had entirely failed to regenerate the vice-ridden Roman world. He
more or less echoed Tacitus centuries before. Salvianus contrasted
Roman depravity with Gothic piety and purity, their respect for
marriage and the family, their sense of justice and comradely concern
for each other. Salvianus himself observed the flippancy of Romans
in the face of calamity. Rome, he noted, was laughing as it died. He
linked it to Sardonic herbs, poisons which had the property of
constricting a victim's jaw into a simulacrum of laughter as they killed.
Salvianus thought the future lay with the Goths: "They increased daily
while we diminish; they gain in power while we are humbled; they
flourish and we wither away."


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