What attracts you to Late Rome?

[starman2012]

Looking to the Battle at Frigidus, you could call Theodosius I the gravedigger of the western field army and door opener for the Visigoths.

Stilicho didn't do badly in the first years of the fifth century. The East actually need his or western help. Much of the "gravedigging' was done by the anti-barbarian campaign following Stilicho's death in 408. It was bad enough that they couldn't get many citizen recruits. After 408 even barbarians were reluctant to serve in the regular western army.

However, 400 AD and even after the first sack of Rome most romans believed not, that they lived at the eve of doom. Thats the interesting point about this era. Well, looking to the eastern provinces, they were actually correct.

The East was fairly lucky in that most barbarians settled in the West, which meant permanent losses of territory.