Among the historical questions that have been posed through the ages, none has attracted more attention over a longer period of time than the one that asks, Why did the Roman Empire in the West collapse? The selections in part 1 attempt to define the problem. Part 2 offers a selection of some of the explanations given for Rome's decay and collapse. The theme of part 3 is that the Roman Empire never fell at all, but metamorphosed into something else. - Introduction.