Beyond the Black Gate
In 409 CE, the Roman Empire is collapsing fast, a victim of imperial infighting and barbarian invasions. The Romano-Britons send a delegation to Emperor Honorius begging for troops to protect them from the Picts and Scots, and the patrician Matugenus also sends his son Fromus along with a letter begging his cousin, the rebel general Gerontius, to return to Britannia and help them mount a resistance. Meanwhile, Nehtan, the British slave of a military officer in Gallia, flees after an attack by Vandals ends in her master’s son’s death, and she finds herself in the company of the delegation. Her desire is to return home and forget her enslaved condition, but she and Fromus begin to fall in love. Chastely, because she is a devout Christian convert. Pursued by an obsessed renegade soldier, she runs away again, and Fromus abandons his mission in order to find her.
The harrowing journey through the decomposing world of late-Roman Gaul—the savage mountains, the ravaged vineyards, roving barbarian gangs, and Roman soldiers who have abandoned all discipline—is vivid and heart-pounding. Thoroughly researched and written in a terse style without sentiment, Beyond the Black Gate captures well the brutal cusp between antiquity and the Dark Ages. Accompanied by a map, glossary, and historical notes, it is recommended without reservation for the unromantic.
