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During the 4th century CE, the Roman Empire underwent numerous transformations. The end of offensive wars resulted in a shortage of slave supplies in the Empire. The number of vernae (slaves not bought but brought up on the farm) grew.
This entailed the humanitarianization of the relationship between masters and slaves – more and more often they were allowed to start families and use small plots, of which only part of the crops were left for the master, leaving the rest for themselves. This layer of slaves was called servi casati.
At the same time, the development of latifundia reached its zenith. Their privileges (e.g. in terms of taxes) ruined free peasants, whose entire masses, instead of cultivating their own lands, began to lease plots of land within latifundia, paying the rent. Problems with its payment caused the peasant to become increasingly dependent on the latifundist. The process progressed so quickly that during the Migration Period, servi casati and the land leaseholders already formed one group, colonies. Additionally, many of them gave their plots of land in exchange for the care of a wealthy neighbour. This phenomenon was called patrocinia vicorum. Such subjection excluded the peasant from the circulation of goods outside the master’s estate and from the general tax system. It led to the ruin of the economy of both cities and the entire empire. In addition, the defeat of cities was compounded by the edict on inheriting occupations. The economic crisis led to frequent social outbursts (their participants were called baggage in Gaul).
In the 4th century CE, the Roman army was divided into two types of army: limitanei and comitatenses. The first, stationed on the borders of the empire, were recruited from the population of the provinces they defended, and usually their combat value was very low. Comitatenses were selected units, included in the imperial retinue (comitatus). Latifundists were mostly burdened with delivering a recruit. More and more often, instead of depleting the number of their colonies, they paid a special tribute (aurum tironicum). It allowed gaining experienced mercenaries and not peasants who were unfamiliar with the warrior. On a larger scale, this practice threatened the army – it began to lack Romans, but even Roman citizens, because the lion’s share of the army were barbarians. Roman discipline and tactics were disappearing in the army, because thanks to their skills, the Germans quickly advanced on the military career levels. This process began around 160, but the size that threatened the Roman state did not take until the last years of the 4th century.
The bureaucratization of the state also increased in the period under review. Offices (officia, scrinia) grew and were headed by appropriate chiefs (e.g. comes sacrarum largitionum – treasury administrator). The highest officials stood around the emperor who, following the example of oriental monarchs (e.g. the Persian Sassanids) from the time of Diocletian (284-305), became the absolute ruler (dominus) – the source of all laws. The position of the ruler understood in this way had a bad influence on the Roman Senate. Most of the senators coming from the property made their way to Rome less and less from their estates, leaving only senators by appointment of senior officials and military personnel, which led to the transformation of the senate into an advisory body.
In 395 CE, the emperor Theodosius the Great decided on his deathbed to divide the Empire between two minor sons, assigning them guardians. Arkadius, under the tutelage of the praetorian prefect Rufin, was given to the East. The younger Honorius, under the care of magistra militum Stilicho, was to rule the West. The boundaries were set so that they coincided with the influences of Latin and Greek. This factor made them firmly established. According to the father’s views, the young co-emperors were to support each other and lead a common external policy. Unfortunately, the rivalry between the guardians of the young rulers led to a state where the unity of East and West was only a fiction.
Decadent culture is often accused of decadence. It must be admitted that numerous transformations took place in it, however, one cannot look for only a collapse in them. Usually, this “cultural ruin” was attributed to the “aging” of ancient civilization, or to the pernicious influence of the East. Late antiquity art was characterized by the schematic drawing and solids. The artists of the time were accused of losing the technical perfection of the classical period for a long time. Nowadays, in the era of breaking with naturalism, one can notice an obvious truth: these changes were a symptom of a changing concept of beauty, tastes, or the use of new means of expression. The mosaic became popular, perfect for the symbolic drawing of artistic symbols. This transformation had its source in new philosophical and religious trends. Classical rationalism had lost to mysticism long before the rise of Christianity. Mithraism, Manichaeism, the cult of Isis, Judaism, Christianity – all these trends gave rise to Neoplatonism – a school of philosophy that revolutionized the thought of the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages.
In the literature of the period under discussion, a passion for a peculiar antiquarianism was characteristic. The most popular were all kinds of commentaries, works on grammar, rhetoric, and versification. Literary language has bec