Adrian Goldsworthy

Whereas it's more about, again, it's a little bit like the emperor thinking, well, the only way for me to stay alive is to have power. And to do that, I must dispose of, or at the very least, weaken any potential rival and I must control the emperor. And once you, again, with all of these things, it's the same way when you get earlier patterns of the third century crisis, the

Whereas it's more about, again, it's a little bit like the emperor thinking, well, the only way for me to stay alive is to have power. And to do that, I must dispose of, or at the very least, weaken any potential rival and I must control the emperor. And once you, again, with all of these things, it's the same way when you get earlier patterns of the third century crisis, the

Whereas it's more about, again, it's a little bit like the emperor thinking, well, the only way for me to stay alive is to have power. And to do that, I must dispose of, or at the very least, weaken any potential rival and I must control the emperor. And once you, again, with all of these things, it's the same way when you get earlier patterns of the third century crisis, the

rebellions, usurpations, lots of people declaring emperors. It tends to encourage more very quickly. The longer someone like Honorius or Valentinian lasted, the harder it is to say, well, I'd be a better alternative or this favorite of mine, because that's generally what it is. It's the strong man. As you say, Majorian is a little bit of an exception where he actually does things on his own.

rebellions, usurpations, lots of people declaring emperors. It tends to encourage more very quickly. The longer someone like Honorius or Valentinian lasted, the harder it is to say, well, I'd be a better alternative or this favorite of mine, because that's generally what it is. It's the strong man. As you say, Majorian is a little bit of an exception where he actually does things on his own.

rebellions, usurpations, lots of people declaring emperors. It tends to encourage more very quickly. The longer someone like Honorius or Valentinian lasted, the harder it is to say, well, I'd be a better alternative or this favorite of mine, because that's generally what it is. It's the strong man. As you say, Majorian is a little bit of an exception where he actually does things on his own.

But in the main, these are puppets and they're very short-lived puppets. because the all the resources you've got the basis of power is smaller it's much easier for the balance to change between one man being having enough to be dominant and then somebody else being able to challenge him so there's this rapid succession because it's again it's like over correcting

But in the main, these are puppets and they're very short-lived puppets. because the all the resources you've got the basis of power is smaller it's much easier for the balance to change between one man being having enough to be dominant and then somebody else being able to challenge him so there's this rapid succession because it's again it's like over correcting

But in the main, these are puppets and they're very short-lived puppets. because the all the resources you've got the basis of power is smaller it's much easier for the balance to change between one man being having enough to be dominant and then somebody else being able to challenge him so there's this rapid succession because it's again it's like over correcting

And obviously there's, you know, there's an element of chance in all of this in that things go worse. They miscalculate about levels of trust, but also enough people think there's an opportunity. It's much harder. The longer somebody lives, in a sense, they become more secure because you've got to get a stronger reason for disposing of them, getting rid of them.

And obviously there's, you know, there's an element of chance in all of this in that things go worse. They miscalculate about levels of trust, but also enough people think there's an opportunity. It's much harder. The longer somebody lives, in a sense, they become more secure because you've got to get a stronger reason for disposing of them, getting rid of them.

And obviously there's, you know, there's an element of chance in all of this in that things go worse. They miscalculate about levels of trust, but also enough people think there's an opportunity. It's much harder. The longer somebody lives, in a sense, they become more secure because you've got to get a stronger reason for disposing of them, getting rid of them.

Once it's happened once, once there's been that, it's much easier to have another revolution, another usurpation, get rid of this, because on the one hand, they're a lot less secure. They're still trying to prove themselves, which means it's much easier to fail or be discredited. The longer you are, you can cope with failure. So Honorius can cope with the sack of Rome. He's not

Once it's happened once, once there's been that, it's much easier to have another revolution, another usurpation, get rid of this, because on the one hand, they're a lot less secure. They're still trying to prove themselves, which means it's much easier to fail or be discredited. The longer you are, you can cope with failure. So Honorius can cope with the sack of Rome. He's not

Once it's happened once, once there's been that, it's much easier to have another revolution, another usurpation, get rid of this, because on the one hand, they're a lot less secure. They're still trying to prove themselves, which means it's much easier to fail or be discredited. The longer you are, you can cope with failure. So Honorius can cope with the sack of Rome. He's not

fully discredited and destroyed by this. He's still around for a decade or more afterwards. But if you're new, if you've got a more questionable claim to power and something goes badly wrong, then it's much easier either for you to try and blame the army commander you've trusted, which might mean he might turn against you, or for him to blame you and get rid of you. So you have Rissomar

fully discredited and destroyed by this. He's still around for a decade or more afterwards. But if you're new, if you've got a more questionable claim to power and something goes badly wrong, then it's much easier either for you to try and blame the army commander you've trusted, which might mean he might turn against you, or for him to blame you and get rid of you. So you have Rissomar

fully discredited and destroyed by this. He's still around for a decade or more afterwards. But if you're new, if you've got a more questionable claim to power and something goes badly wrong, then it's much easier either for you to try and blame the army commander you've trusted, which might mean he might turn against you, or for him to blame you and get rid of you. So you have Rissomar

in the background pulling the strings over quite a long period. And... That's an element where you've got somebody who's got enough power to make and break emperors, but also the fact that they can do that shows how weak you are.

in the background pulling the strings over quite a long period. And... That's an element where you've got somebody who's got enough power to make and break emperors, but also the fact that they can do that shows how weak you are.