Historical Reflections on the Latter Roman Period

Time to exert my authority here as an amateur historian!!  Just recently, I purchased an excellent documentary series on DVD produced by the History Channel and entitled Rome - Rise and Fall of an Empire.  Starting at the period just before Julius Caesar's ascendancy, the series chronicles Rome from its transformation from a Republic to an Empire until its eventual demise in the West at around the year 476 AD.  It is the latter part of this series that caught my interest, starting with the reign of Emperor Constantine, and it educated me a lot as to the ending of the Western Roman Empire.  After watching this, I started reading up more on this period of history, and as I study it I have come to the conclusion that the Western Empire did not fall as much as it just faded away, transforming into something else totally unique to what it was.   That is not to say a decline didn't happen, but rather as a whole the Roman legacy was transformed as it slowly morphed from antiquity into the Middle Ages.   That being said, I have a couple of observations.

First, the "old order" of imperial Rome did decline, becoming more German and less Roman (except in the East, which became more Greek in identity).  This seems to be evident from the 4th century onwards, as several foederati (foreign-born mercenaries) legions gained numbers and influence in Roman political circles.   The first of these of note was a half-Vandal/half-Roman general, Stilicho, who by all accounts was actually a man of great integrity and honor - for a supposed "barbarian," Stilicho was chronicled as being a humble leader and a gentleman in all aspects.   Ironically, he was more honorable than his emperor, Honorius, who later had him assassinated.   A generation later, another powerful "barbarian" consul, Ricimer, came onto the scene and Ricimer was almost the diametric opposite of Stilicho - a brilliant and capable commander, he was also very ambitious and stopped at nothing to control or manipulate the emperor, thus earning him the reputation of being "The Puppetmaster."   In many cases, the emperor was at this point a mere figurehead, and Ricimer all but in name ruled the Western Empire.  The third major "barbarian" of note was the man who also brought the Western Empire to its official end in 476, Odoacer.  Odoacer possessed both the ambition of Ricimer and the sense of honor of Stilicho, and this strange combination served him well later when he became the first "King of Italy" after deposing Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Emperor and son of his main rival, Flavius Orestes.   Although all of these men were of proported "barbarian" stock, all of them displayed a shrewd, tactful, and intellegence of personality that resulted in a level of bureaucratic sophistication that rivaled classical Rome's best.   In many ways, the apparent "barbarian" was often more civilized and intelligent than those who called them "barbarians."  That is something I have noted with interest personally too.

A second thing about the latter Roman period as it slowly morphed into the Middle Ages is that a lot of its history mirrors our own, and in studying Rome I have to ponder if America may be headed on a similar path.   As a prophecy student, I find that intriguing also because little is alluded to America in the Bible as far as prophetic reference is concerned.  Yet, we see these parallels - a decline in moral integrity, being taken over by outsiders, and a laxity in the American Church, just to note a few.   No doubt things are destined for change in America, one way or another, and it seems like the current political/social/economic climate indicates change is afoot.   The question is not if change will happen, but how we will deal with it when it does.   That being said, we need to make sure the best of our American legacy is preserved at all costs - unfortunately forces are trying to discredit and destroy it even now with historical revisionism based on "political correctness" as well as booting out any reference to Judeo-Christian foundations in our society.   The corporate world too is diminishing our nation as it disrupts the natural beauty and the encouragement of entrepreneurship of our past in order to do away with it to make a fast buck.   Those of us who appreciate the good in our culture and the "old ways" need to do our part to preserve it.

Anyway, those are just some random thoughts on history as I see it, and hope you enjoyed and learned something from it until we visit again.