ABSTRACT
If the physical law of inertia applies to historical developments, then perhaps the Roman Empire was legitimately destined for eternity, and those who know that it did not endure are bound to ask what interrupted its tranquil course through the ages. As Gibbon implied, Toynbee affirmed, and everyone else widely believes, they epitomized the "external" dimension of the fall of the empire. This perception is obviously true inasmuch as barbarians are, by definition, foreigners. The role played by foreigners, however objection able Sulpicius's account of it may be, is as much an internal one as if, instead, the strife of domestic factions had undermined the state. In most narratives, the barbarians of the invasion period are identified as a matter of course with the Germanic peoples. However correct this identification may be in a scheme of linguistic classification, the collectivity of Germans is a historical anachronism if transposed to the sixth century or earlier.
