<html><body> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But wasn't the ruling of the late Empire, under Diocletian. centralized, with the power increasing vested in the hands of the Emperors and military commanders, and taken away from the traditional rulers, like the Senatorial class?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In one area, the late Empire was NOT integrated. This was with regard to the Germanic peoples of Europe. Although the Empire relied on Gernam  foot soldiers, there were few Roman leaders who were German - Stilicho being an exception, and my understanding is that they were excluded from the elite generally. SR</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR>From: "Jerry Monaco" <monacojerry@gmail.com> <BR> <BR><BR>But Chris's original question was how "integrated" was the elite in the late empire.  My impression is that most of the elite rulers at the center of the empire, by the time of late empire, came from the "periphery".  Is this true?  Justin, do you know? But also it seems to me that the real day to day running of the empire was done by local elites, while the military "center" of the empire was run by the dynasts.  <BR><BR>Jerry<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>