09-30-2016 (Photo: The Favorites of the Emperor Honorius, by John William Waterhouse, 1883. ) http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/contact http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/schedules http://johnbatchelorshow.com/blog Twitter: @BatchelorShow

How can you tell the Empire is falling around you? Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, @JHUWorldCrisis.

“,,,Crisis of the Third Century[edit] Main article: Crisis of the Third Century The Empire suffered from multiple, serious crises during the third century, including the rise of the Sassanid Empire, which inflicted three crushing defeats on Roman field armies and remained a potent threat for centuries.[18] Other disasters included repeated civil wars, barbarian invasions, and more mass mortality in the Plague of Cyprian (from 250 onwards). Rome abandoned the province of Dacia on the north of the Danube (271), and for a short period the Empire split into a Gallic Empire in the West (260–274), a Palmyrene Empire in the East (260–273), and a central Roman rump state. The Rhine/Danube frontier also came under more effective threat from larger barbarian groupings, which had developed better agriculture and larger populations.[19] The Empire survived the crisis of the third century, directing its economy successfully towards defence, but survival came at the price of a more centralized and bureaucratic state. Under Gallienus the senatorial aristocracy ceased to provide the senior military commanders, its typical members lacking interest in military service and showing incompetence at command.[20][21]…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FalloftheWesternRoman_Empire