03-06-2013, 02:46 AM
Quote:Also, one aspect in this that is often overlooked is people's willingness to participate in the system.
The roman state had lost its people; every important segment of the population. Odoaker recognized that very precisely, when he sent the insignia to Constantinople and said more or less: "Nobody needs this state anymore." Because a state without people, makes no sense at all.
The interesting question about the late empire is, when did this process start and why? How could a state abolish itself. And why did it not happen in the East?
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas