From the overburdened Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, saddened by the ruin he could not overt, we turn to one of the most strangely fascinating characters in all history, a barbaric chieftain who became head of the western empire, Theodoric of Verona. This barbarian dreamed a great dream, of recovering roman civilization, uniting it with the new Christian faith, and handing the union on for the peace and culture of succeeding ages...