Medieval scholars will tell you that the ________ thing about the “Dark Ages” is our modern perspective of it; anyone with a true understanding of the Roman Empire knows that Rome, ________ it was built, did not fall in a day.

“The fall of the Roman Empire” in the medieval history characterize the dark phase of Roman history, hence the “Dark Ages”. Of all the options, 'tenebrous '(dark) (1) and 'darkest' in (2) would characterize the first blank. The sentence - 'while it was built, did not fall in a day' makes no logical sense; whereas the sentence - 'just as it was built, did not fall in a day' gives the coherent meaning to the sentence. Hence, (2) is the answer. Cryptic means mysterious. Tawny refers to brownish yellowish colour. Iniquitous means wicked, evil.