That something was sometimes religion, an empire, a kingdom, a country, a great leader, a discovery, a successful military defense, a turning of the tables, a movement of peoples, or a new idea.
Within this framework, Western Civilization is a torch that a dying hand somehow always managed to pass to a hand of vigor or spirit. Or the torch was dropped but a vigorous, spirited hand managed to pick it up again.
The torch flame in the dying hand flickers. The dying hand has no intention of passing it to anyone. It wants to kill the flame before it drops it. It matters little. There are no vigorous or spirited hands waiting to take it or pick it up anyway.
The flame will die in the dying hand and fall unceremoniously into the sands of a handless desert.