Racconta un monaco di Betlemme:
“And I was stunned and stupefied, so much so that I couldn’t think about anything else day and night. I felt as if I were being held hostage myself and couldn’t even open my mouth until I knew for sure what had happened. Hanging there, caught between hope and despair, I was torturing myself with the thought of what others were suffering. But after the brightest light of all the lands was extinguished — after the head of the whole empire was lopped off — to speak truly, after the whole world had perished in a single city: I fell silent and was humbled, and I kept my silence and my sorrow was renewed. My heart grew warm within me and fire blazed up in my thoughts …”
e racconta di quando seppe che Roma era caduta sotto l’assalto di Alarico, il 24 agosto 410. Un fatto simile non succedeva da 800 anni.
Di questo e di altro parla un interessante articolo dello storico James J. O’Donnell, articolo che ho appena finito di leggere e che mi ha lasciato pensoso.
