Roman Empire - The Failure of the Western Empire

One of the great geniuses of rome had always been its ability to instantly incorporate new as and new peoples into their empire without being weighed down by prejudice. But as Rome reached a new crisis point, the ruling aristocracy suddenly became obsessed with racial prejudices. The most capable men of the age, stilico, alaric, tius, genseric, theodoric, were all kept at arm's distance from access to real imperial power By an italian aristocracy that suddenly began asserting the necessity of ethnic separation. And if they weren't second class leaders, then why aren't we talking about emperor stilico and emperor aetius? Mostly it's because the senators of