abstract:In 376 CE, large numbers of Goths crossed the Danube. They sought admission to the territory of the Roman Empire, a political institution which, despite having both new and longstanding systematic weaknesses, wielded effective power across the lands surrounding the Mediterranean and beyond.
The current statusof theEnglishlanguageatthe start ofthe new millennium compares with that ofLatininmostof Western Europesincethe fall of the RomanEmpire.