The century counted from the death of Theodosius I until the conquest of Italy by the Ostrogoth Theodoric became a time of chaos, plunder, devastation and destruction. The central figure of the entire century is Attila. The man's demonic, blazing, and inescapable power is as fascinating as it is terrifying. Professor K. D. Gordon's book describes the tragic and bloody fall of civilization in the west of the Roman Empire and its near collapse in the east. The author translated and with his comments included in the narrative eyewitness accounts of the mortal agony of the empire and little-known details about the meetings of Attila with the Roman ambassadors of the Byzantine historians Priscus, Malchus, Olympiador, John of Antioch and Candide. Translation: I. Kulikova