But before he fell he had done his work.

In the lands that he had sheltered, Roman civilization had taken strong root.

The fact has an importance which we to-day might easily miss.

It is not likely that any modern nation will soon again stand in the place that Rome then held.
Our culture to-day seems firmly planted in three continents and our task is rather to diffuse it further and to develop its good qualities than to defend it.

But the Roman Empire was the civilized world; the safety of Rome was the safety of all civilization.