The Last Vestal Virgin and the Fall of Rome

Summary

So, circling back to that question—when did ancient Rome fall? For Coelia and those like her, the Rome they knew—even if it was just shadows of what it used to be—probably fell in 394 or 395 CE, shortly after the battle of Frigidus, when the sacred fire of Vesta was extinguished on the order of the Christian emperor Theodosius. For everybody else, the fall—at least part one of the fall—happened a short 15 years later when the Visigoths, led by Alaric, sacked Rome in 410 CE. And then we might say the final death blow to the Western Roman empire was when the barbarian Odoacer deposed the emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 CE. An Ancient Prophecy, FulfilledThe sacred fire of Vesta burned for over a thousand years in the same spot. Within 15 years of it being extinguished, Rome did a hard pivot toward decline, and began, basically, a freefall. The ancient prophecy—that Rome would fall if Vesta’s fire went out—thus came true when Rome broke the pax deorum, its ancient pact with the gods.You’ve heard it said that the victors write the history books, and there are no truer words spoken. Even today there is a tendency to downplay this transition, to dismiss the severity of the laws enacted against the pagans and the emotional toll those took on people like Coelia Concordia. Personally, I think it is time to stop doing that. Those people who lost their freedom of religion, their freedom of speech, their freedom of thought and choice—they deserve better.Of course, the Roman Empire as we tend to think of it fell for a multitude of reasons spread out over decades, even centuries. All I can say is that I think Symmachus was right—great is the force of custom. It might be sentimental, but I think that to Coelia Concordia, her Rome fell when the sacred fire, the focus of her life, was extinguished before her eyes.