The Fate of Rome Quotes

“And the connections we have progressively built between human societies not only link old germ pools, but more profoundly they have turned separate groups into a metapopulation for roving killers to explore. The main drama of disease history has been the constant emergence of untried germs from wild hosts, finding human groups linked in ever-larger pacts of mutually assured infection.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“Justinian was the first deadbeat emperor.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“The state feeds on disposable bodies.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“We must approach our ancient accounts with a healthy balance of respect and caution.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“The Roman Empire was an unintended experiment in mosquito breeding.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“The huge question of the Antonine Plague in the Roman Empire is a problem 3–4 feet in size, repeated millions of times.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“From the time of the plague, the Roman Empire faced an ultimately irresolvable conundrum. It could not field the army its imperial geography required, and it could not pay for such an army as it was able to muster.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“Population pressure can crowd the finite countryside and crunch resources. But demographic abundance is almost always a boon to the state. The state feeds on disposable bodies.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“The Huns were armed climate refugees on horseback.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“Our story, and the story of the planet, are inseparable.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

“Exactly one century lies between the capture of Rome by Belisarius and the retreat of the empire’s armies behind the lightning advance of the Islamic conquests. Over that span of time, the Roman state exerted itself, with all its might, against the inexorable pull of the tides.”
― Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire