Thomas Cahill opens his story describing Rome's fall, “For as the Roman Empire fell, as all through Europe matted, unwashed barbarians descended on the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, the Irish who were just learning to read and write, took up the just labor of copying all of western literature - everything they could get their hands on. These scribes then served as conduits through which Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe, newly settled amid the rubble and ruined vineyards ....