Rather like Alan Bloom in The Closing of the American Mind (Penguin, 1987), the author is concerned with the deterioration in the quality of university education. He argues that the true purpose of a university has been lost sight of and needs to be re-established.

'This is an ambitious attempt to capture the essence of the last Romans and the ending of the Roman world. Stewart scores highly in his ability to draw rounded characters with a few deft phrases and he certainly seems to know the political history of the period inside out.'
HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW.