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Message:: [QUOTE="GregH, post: 2286076, member: 75936"]The murder of Aetius was what led to Valentinian's assassination, wasn't it? Val was doing well (in terms of staying alive) up until that point. And he was neither crazy nor a megalomaniac - he was certainly no Caligula or Max Thrax. He just didn't have any aptitude for rule - management of imperial policy was in the hands of Galla Placidia and later Aetius. Although this period is dismissed as the era of shadow emperors, the truth is, as ValiantKnight says, there were some capable emperors towards the very end. Majorian and Anthemius weren't exactly incompetent, and both made decent attempts to recapture lost territory. Unfortunately by this stage, the Germanic Masters of the Soldiers (Ricimer, then Odoacer) were the real power behind the throne - and they could depose and create emperors at will. How are we going with collecting the last emperors btw? I have Johannes, Val III, Libius Severus. And I thought I had Nepos - but a renowned expert (whom you've all heard of) believes my Nepos AE4 is a tooled Libius Severus. Judging by the availability in auctions, it's possible (on a budget of <$2000 per coin) to obtain examples of all the late emperors except Romulus Augustus, Olybrius, Glycerius and Petronius Maximus.[/QUOTE]