And yet as one contemplates the world of Ausonius and Sidonius (for by the time of Gregory of Tours it was already dead) one is, I think, impelled to ask oneself the question why they were apparently so blind to what was happening.

The big country houses go on having their luncheon and tennis parties, the little professors in the universities go on giving their lectures and writing their books; games are increasingly popular and the theatres are always full.

Ausonius has seen the Germans overrun Gaul once, but he never speaks of a danger that may recur.

Sidonius lives in a world already half barbarian, yet in the year before the Western Empire falls he is still dreaming of the consulship for his son.

Why did they not realize the magnitude of the disaster that was befalling them?
This is indeed a question almost as absorbing as the question why their civilization fell, for _au fond_ it is perhaps the same question.