A dreadful pall has overtaken the west. King Alaric and his violent horde of Gothic marauders roam unchecked in central Italy, yet another usurper has risen to steal control of Gaul, and a half-dozen Germanic tribes have overrun the Rhineland and spread their havoc south across the Pyrenees. A prisoner of his own capital, Honorius is a fallen ruler clinging bitterly to a diminished throne. Every citizen in the west can picture the fall of Rome, with no need even to close their eyes.