The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon
History
James Mustich
Aug 22, 2018
“Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?” So, reportedly, spoke the Duke of Gloucester when Edward Gibbon presented him with the second volume of his enormous History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Thick and square defines all six of the history’s eventual volumes, each of which is filled with the scholarship, intelligence, and fine style that characterizes this most majestic of English language scribblers. Gibbon’s reach, in detailing the empire’s decline from AD 180 to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, is ambitious; yet his grasp of the vast sweep of events and culture is so sure, his prose so glorious, his store of primary sources so rich, that we are treated to the satisfactions of a deeply pleasurable read. Indeed, although there is much compelling intelligence in Gibbon’s argument that the degradation of civic virtue sealed Rome’s slow but sure fate (to say nothing of his somewhat scandalous judgment of Christianity’s pernicious influence in taking the Roman eye off the incentive of the here-and-now and directing its gaze toward the hereafter), it is the author’s literary facility that continually rewards and astonishes the reader. From the moderation of Augustus to the immodesties of Nero, from the advent of the saints to the invasions of Attila, from the foundation of Constantinople to the conquests of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, Gibbon covers an extraordinary expanse of human experience in this exacting work, which remains unmatched in both extent and eloquence. J. B. Bury’s multi-volume complete edition, with useful commentaries, is standard. The well-executed Penguin abridgment is an excellent one-volume alternative.
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Tom Horne
Dec 25, 2018
Every page is eloquent
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Eli
Jan 29
Must read!
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