Your reader (Marcel from Monday's article) evidently doesn't understand what became of the Roman Empire. It split in twain, and (excepting my folk hero Julian the Apostate's brief efforts) remained that way.

The western portion could certainly be considered to have fallen in a sense, given that Alaric the Visigoth and his homies sacked Rome (by which time the administration was at Ravenna anyway) when hardly anyone could be bothered to defend it. Later that century it fell to a Scirian barbarian king, then became an Ostrogothic kingdom, and in general we watched the rise of Germanic-speaking people -- Franks, Goths, Vandals, etc.

But an interesting thing happened there. When those successors finally produced a new Empire, they called it the Holy Roman Empire. I am not contending that the HRE was any form of direct descendant of the Empire of Vespasian and Diocletian, of course. I am contending that in one form or another, the western Roman Empire hung on quite a long time -- even if only as an idea.

But that was the weak side of the split.

The eastern portion could not be considered fallen at all at the same time as the western. It became the Byzantine Empire, a thriving place, and endured for a millennium after Odovacar the Scirian contemptuously told the last western Emperor: "You can run along now, son."

Of course, it's not good enough to just tell the history; part of the task is to draw lessons and inferences. I think your British example is a reasonable one; I think it's a worthy topic of discussion which former major power we resemble more.

I am greatly fond of pointing out to Americans that our Francophobia is ironic in light of the fact that we so resemble the French. We are unilingual, we overrate ourselves, and we're often insufferable about both facts. We ought to view the French as kindred spirits, because they're the only other people in the world as abrasive and difficult and annoying as we are. (Then there's that little part about us probably losing the Revolution without them, us helping Napoleon, a big statue, then two major wars together. If ever two nations were meant to be friends it is us and France.)

I do not think that the U.S. faces the fate of the western Roman Empire, or even the eastern.