So, the format "[transitive verb] of [noun]" always makes the noun the object of the verb. If you say "the pillage of Rome", it's immediately understood that Rome is the target of the pillage, no matter how much pillaging they themselves did.

The point being that, if a certain author of 1914 had just thought to omit the word "epilogue", then he would pull off his nifty bit of misdirection with the final chapter title, without completely cheating the laws of grammar. But no.