„Rome did not fall because barbarians invaded; barbarian tribes merely took advantage of the military weakness of Rome that followed from its economic weakness and it was economically weak mainly because it had expanded its borders to the limit possible at the time. Rome had conquered and looted as much as it could. The Persians held them off in the east, the German tribes in the north and the desert to the south in Africa. With no new wealth to plunder, Rome consumed the loot from past conquests and grew poorer.“

Roger McKinney