Disclaimer: the following is written purely for pleasure, in response to the brilliance of the concept. What a creative way to treat on one of the pivotal events of the fifth century! Don't award me any prizes, for the satisfaction came from the creative writing opportunity.

Warm May sunlight spilled into Iulia Aurelia's cubicula, and the old woman's bones silently creaked their thanks as her ornatrix, Melissa, dressed her lady's hair, grey as new-minted iron. The two women could hear the distant voices of workers gathering their tools to tend the vineyards, which formed the bulk of the villa's estates.

"Have you had any more news from your sister-in-law, domina?" inquired Melissa, who was well aware that little news had arrived since the shocking revelations about the murder, in early March, of Valentinian III by Petronius Maximus just after the Ides of March.

Careful not to shake her head and damage the work of her servant, Iulia Aurelia considered. "No, I have had no letters from Rome myself," she replied, but the Bishop of Teanum was at dinner last week, and he related a most shocking rumour that, before murdering Valentinian, Maximus actually conspired with him to murder our great general Aëtius, in hopes that he, Maximus, would be appointed to Aëtius' position."

Reflecting on the gravity of the news, Iulia Aurelia shuddered in fear, for the great general's murder had left the Roman army—indeed, the entire Italian peninsula—rudderless and unprotected. Even her ornatrix, far less acquainted with political realities gasped.

"He it was who has done this wicked deed?" she exclaimed. And no one to protect us from those barbarians who stole Africa from us! Whatever shall we do? How are we to survive?"

Her exclamations were echoed by raised voices in the courtyard, and in a matter of a few moments, the door to Iulia Aurelia's cubiculum was flung open by her husband, Marcus Valerius Firmus, his face ashen-grey. Shocked, the old woman rose to her feet, upsetting the arca, the little box containing her hair ornaments and jewels, for Marcus seldom entered her private domain, and never moved or spoke in haste.

"Maritus meus, what has happened?" she exclaimed. "Is it one of our children or grandchildren? What is it?"

The old man held out a trembling hand, containing a sheaf of thin wooden tablets closely written. "It is from my brother, Lucius," he said in an unsteady voice. "He writes that the Vandal King Geiseric has sailed his fleet up the Tiber and for the past fortnight has emptied the entire city of its gold, bronzes, silks—everything of value. Barbarians entered his domus on the fifth day and, while no-one in the household was harmed, hardly a stick that could be sold for gold was left to them! Everything in Rome, even the bronze statues and half the gilt-broze roof of the temple of Jupiter Capitolius has been carried off! Lucius writes that the intercession of the bishop of Rome, Leo, was the only thing that kept those barbarians from putting everyone to the sword!"

The two women cried out in shock and horror. "Domnina, my sister-in-law," Iulia Aurelia croaked, "how does she?" Her husband shook his head. "Prostrated by the experience, my brother says, and has taken to her bed. There is more as well." Marcus Valerius squinted down at the thin wooden tablets. "He says that the murderer Maximus was killed himself trying to flee the city, and by one of our own soldiers, a man named Ursus. Worse, it is said that the Empress Eudoxia, mad for revenge after the murder of her first husband, Valentinian, actually invited the barbarian to Rome! She has been well paid for her treachery, for it appears that as she approached Geiseric to thank him for her delivery, he seized her and her daughters and compelled them, along with many senatorial families, to board his ships bound for Carthage!"

The servant Melissa, slumped to the floor, but Iulia Aurelia's gaze was riveted on her husband. "How is it, then, that our own family has escaped, for they too, are members of the illustri?" Marcus shook his head. I know not, he admitted, unless the barbarii felt them both to be too old to be of value. I know not, though I thank God for their safety!" At this, he sank to his knees and bowed his head.

Iulia Aurelia stared bleakly, seeing nothing. While she had been a good Christian since the Bishop of Teanum baptized her into the church, her mind cast back to the gods of her youth, and a voice whispered that when their worship had ceased, the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, had been broken.

Shaking off her dread, she reached down from her basket chair and grasped her husband's knotted hands with both of her own, breaking the fragile tablets with their terrible news into fragments. "Husband, what are we to do now?" she asked. "We must bring your Lucius and Domnina back here as soon as it is safe to travel, but are any of us safe if Rome has fallen?"

"I do not know," he replied. "No-one is safe anymore. The Altar of Victory has been gone from the curia these many years, and perhaps this is the result. But the old ways are over and we must go on, even if the world must end."