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Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play Romulus der Große (Romulus the Great) shows the demise of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century - which is happily expected by the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus. He despises his own culture for its violent past and can't hardly wait to see the Germanics march into the Capital Rome and, later, into his summer house, where he is content to breed domesticised chickens, while his wife Julia, his designated son-in-law and soldier Orestes, the fled Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire Zeno and his remaining secretaries beg him to resume reigning and defeat the Germanic people. But even a last try for revolution against Romulus goes wrong. But as the Germanics appear, Romulus has to see he is tragically mistaken - his adversary Odoacer is as world-weary as himself, being forced into a bloody streak of conquering by his people and especially his bloodthirsty son Theoderic.
Dürrenmatt took some rather great liberties in describing the historical story - in reality, Romulus Augustulus was just a child, merely a few years in power and dependend heavily upon his father and military leader Orestes. Odoacer and Theoderic, on the other hand, were not family but rather leaders of two quarreling Germanic tribes.