A colleague of mine is struggling to accept Ricimer and Rome's downfall. How can I console him?

I don't know what it is, but there's a sect of young men out there who feel so upset at the Italian senatorial elite, Ricimer, Avitus, Olybrius, etc...

This isn't a modern thing, one sees it cropping up in different centuries. Gibbons has some of that element and so are many other people.

But this guy just keeps consuming YouTube videos about the late roman empire and freaking out over the loss of "Mos Maiorum", of "Romanitas", and how the vestal virgins and religious festivals got defunded or otherwise cut.

He keeps thinking of 4th-5th century Rome as that old Rome of the Scipios and Catos.

I specialize in ancient Greece, you hardly come across folks bemoaning the fall of Athens, or the collapse of the Spartan hegemony.

I know this is a very silly question. But honestly, this guy is the third guy I ran into who is like this.