edward gibbon rise and fall of the roman empire

DF primarily covers the period from the reign of the Antonines beginning in 138 to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, a period of 1315 years, but looks back on earlier emperors of Rome and forward to recent history of Rome. He was not an atheist but judged organized religions unfavorably in their failure to bring about human happiness and their central role in bringing about the decline of Rome's empire. His politics favored hereditary monarchy and hegemonic oligarchy. His central historical problems were (1) the nature of civil society (e.g., the civic humanism propounded by Machiavelli), (2) the nature and impact of barbarism, and (3) the role of religion. He is a philosophic historian but primacy is on history. Sources were virtually all classical writings and Montesquieu, Hume, and Voltaire, etc. Decline and Fall was written in 6 volumes beginning in 1773: Vol. Notes from the Penguin edition: EG Lived 1737-1796, toured Italy in 1764. I only wish I could read Latin to understand the Overall Impression: This is a great work of unsurpassed English proseĪnd astounding erudition.

Notes haveīeen extracted from that version as have quotations. I - III copyright 1994 edited David Womersley. Such princes deserved the honor of restoring the republic, had the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational freedom.Īcknowledgement: This summary has been prepared from the Penguin ClassicsĮdition Vol. The forms of the civil administration were carefully preserved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with considering themselves as the accountable ministers of the laws. The armies were restrainedīy the firm but gentle hand of four successive emperors, whose characters and authority commanded involuntary respect.

The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Selective Summary and Notes by Michael McGoodwin, prepared 1997

Edward gibbon rise and fall of the roman empire