[As Julilla has noted, I'm not in the running for a prize, but only interested in the subject! ]

Chalmedon sanded the Pope’s signature, blew off the sand, counted the length of one paternoster, and rolled it up, to be sealed by the papal office. Once Pope Leo had agreed that Rome would open its gates to Gaiseric, of course, the entire papal office had refugeed south of Rome, where the Pope held property in Tusculum. Although the Vandals had promised to respect Christian Churches – they were Christians of a kind themselves, although heretical – there was no guaranteeing the safety of the Pope and he was the sole remaining leader of the Romans, now that Petronius Maximus was dead.

Thus the entire Curia was now crowded into the villa of the Pope’s brother near Tusculum, and the staff were sleeping 6 to a small cubicle. However, Chalmedon reflected, they’d brought away the papal treasures (16 ox-wagon loads) which were being stored here and there throughout Tusculum, so they were still in far better state than those Romans left in the city. Of course, most of the Senate had fled as soon as Leo advised them of the deal, and it was mainly the poor who remained: they had little worth plundering. However, he shuddered to think of the damage to the richer homes, left (as so many were) solely to the defense of a few expendable slaves. There were rumors that legions, rather than protecting Romans, were joining in the plundering.

It comforted Chalmedon to dwell on the advice of the great Augustine, and to know that the travails of this life were unimportant in connection with the glories (or fires!) of the next. For too long, heresy had been permitted to fester within the Church, and it was clear that this sack was brought on by toleration of the Arian heresy, and others. Why was it that the Barbarians were so particularly apt to pick up heresies? Chalmedon firmly believed that heresy should be stamped out without mercy, and that the followers of untrue Christians must be forced into recantation, or destroyed. Heresy was like the poisoning of the blood – once an arm became gangrenous, it would destroy the whole body unless the arm was removed. The Vandals had long followed the despicable heretic Arian, and believed that God the Father was created independent of, and greater than, the Son. Rome’s travails could simply be shown to be God’s punishment on the true Christian Church, that it had not expunged such blasphemy and torn this heresy up by the roots. In future, the Church would be merciless! “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.”

In the meantime, reports suggested that the barbarians were, in fact, doing little damage to the churches of Rome, although there were mixed messages about the extent of damage to the rest of the city. The Church would rebuild, and perhaps now, once and for all, those waverers who had previously tolerated heresy would see God’s punishment writ clear, in the sufferings of Rome.