Читать книгу Why Rome Fell - Michael Arnheim - Страница 17

One important question that has not received sufficient attention is how much of the continuity of the western empire was structural, and how much was personal. We know, for example, that aristocracy and the aristocratic ethos survived the dissolution of the western empire. But who were the aristocrats who carried on this Roman tradition? Were they descendants of the old Roman senatorial aristocracy? Or were they “barbarian” aristocrats aping Roman manners and customs? The evidence is patchy, but the answer would appear to be a mixture of the two. (See Chapter 5.)