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But the scanty wisdom of man, on entering into an affair which

looks well at first, cannot discern the poison that is hidden in

it, as I have said above of hectic fevers. Therefore, if he who

rules a principality cannot recognize evils until they are upon

him, he is not truly wise; and this insight is given to few. And

if the first disaster to the Roman Empire[5] should be examined,

it will be found to have commenced only with the enlisting of the

Goths; because from that time the vigour of the Roman Empire

began to decline, and all that valour which had raised it passed

away to others.