To Forestall the Darkness

Italy, AD 589. What had been was gone.Industry, agriculture and city life had stopped,all of it erased by decades of war and the plague.The Romans are hangdog, defeated, and Titus moves among them.~But what can he do under such brutal overlords? An educated man, he publishes books in his scriptorium for sale to the Eastern Empire. He observes what has been lost and laments it. ~The King, having given him the responsibility for his Roman subjects, reserves to himself any authority to...
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Italy, AD 589. What had been was gone.Industry, agriculture and city life had stopped,all of it erased by decades of war and the plague.The Romans are hangdog, defeated, and Titus moves among them.~But what can he do under such brutal overlords? An educated man, he publishes books in his scriptorium for sale to the Eastern Empire. He observes what has been lost and laments it. ~The King, having given him the responsibility for his Roman subjects, reserves to himself any authority to act. Titus reports abuses, the King takes no action and the people taunt Titus for being in cahoots with their oppressors. But what can he do? ~But then his friend is publicly castrated on the cathedral steps. The question becomes not what? but how? ~Armed uprising is futile, the people hangdog and cowering. But then he sees in their downcast gaze the answer. They would regain what has been lost by rebuilding the people's confidence, their technologies and crafts. They would sell their output to the rich East. He would work to rebuild the optimism that had made Rome great.~Titus opens his estate to those fleeing Verona. He builds kilns for the potters. He parcels out his 6,000 acres for those wishing to farm and instructs his overseer to teach them to farm. He starts building an Academy to replace those the Pope closed in Rome. He buys scholars to teach in it. ~Betrayals come, hostility and distrust, but he presses on to forestall the coming darkness.~But he is rash and goes too far. The overlords bring charges.~You know from your history classes that the shroud of the Dark Ages did befall. The world retreated into the cloister and prayed for the dissolution of the whole world. They called it by a pretty euphemism, the End of Days. What they meant was the destruction of everything.~Isn't that a horrible thought? Isn't the world and civilization worth fighting for? ~Join Titus in his efforts To Forestall the Darkness. Read it next. Buy it today.