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The Western Tradition series offers concise lectures on important events and trends in the history of the western world. The lectures are delivered by Eugen Weber, a noted scholar and instructor at UCLA, and supported by graphic material from the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Intended for use in high school or college classrooms, each tape is a broad overview of a particular era in western history, offering information on art, politics, economics, and a glimpse of what everyday life must have been like in the period. This episode covers a time when effective emperors like Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius were unable to halt the advance of Rome's decline. The manorial system developed as Roman authority proved untenable.