The reduced population weakened the Mediterranean region's defenses against adversaries from remoter parts of Europe that had not been affected by plague.

This outbreak seems to have been a bubonic rather than pneumonic plague. The bacteria attacked the lymph system, resulting in fevers, egg-shaped, black buboes as the lymph nodes in victims' armpits and groins became overwhelmed, delirium, and a death rate of about 50%. Contemporary historians claimed that more than half the population of Constantinople died, with death rates reaching between 5,000 and 10,000 daily. In other cities such as Rome and Ravenna, plague killed up to 40%; while as many as 20% of country people died.

Theodoric died without a male heir, so the kingdom passed to his young grandson Athalaric, with his mother Amalasuntha as regent.

So once again, we need to be as specific as we can in defining the costs and benefits, and evaluating the trade-offs that came from these changes.

Every once in a while they might come together with other bands, possibly in seasonal festivals at which they would share news and knowledge as well as giving young people the opportunity to find a mate outside their tiny community.