The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 8

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

by Edward Gibbon

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Genres: History, Classics, Nonfiction

396 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1788

About the author

Edward Gibbon (8 May 1737 – 16 January 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. The Decline and Fall is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of organised religion.

Gibbon returned to England in June 1765. His father died in 1770, and after tending to the estate, which was by no means in good condition, there remained quite enough for Gibbon to settle fashionably in London at 7 Bentinck Street, independent of financial concerns. By February 1773, he was writing in earnest, but not without the occasional self-imposed distraction. He took to London society quite easily, and joined the better social clubs, including Dr. Johnson's Literary Club, and looked in from time to time on his friend Holroyd in Sussex. He succeeded Oliver Goldsmith at the Royal Academy as 'professor in ancient history' (honorary but prestigious). In late 1774, he was initiated a freemason of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. And, perhaps least productively in that same year, he was returned to the House of Commons for Liskeard, Cornwall through the intervention of his relative and patron, Edward Eliot. He became the archetypal back-bencher, benignly "mute" and "indifferent," his support of the Whig ministry invariably automatic. Gibbon's indolence in that position, perhaps fully intentional, subtracted little from the progress of his writing.

After several rewrites, with Gibbon "often tempted to throw away the labours of seven years," the first volume of what would become his life's major achievement, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published on 17 February 1776. Through 1777, the reading public eagerly consumed three editions for which Gibbon was rewarded handsomely: two-thirds of the profits amounting to approximately £1,000. Biographer Leslie Stephen wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting." And as regards this first volume, "Some warm praise from David Hume overpaid the labour of ten years."

Volumes II and III appeared on 1 March 1781, eventually rising "to a level with the previous volume in general esteem." Volume IV was finished in June 1784; the final two were completed during a second Lausanne sojourn (September 1783 to August 1787) where Gibbon reunited with his friend Deyverdun in leisurely comfort. By early 1787, he was "straining for the goal" and with great relief the project was finished in June. Gibbon later wrote:

It was on the day, or rather the night, of 27 June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page in a summer-house in my garden. ... I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and perhaps the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind by the idea that I had taken my everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that, whatsoever might be the future date of my history, the life of the historian must be short and precarious.

Volumes IV, V, and VI finally reached the press in May 1788, their publication having been delayed since March so it could coincide with a dinner party celebrating Gibbon's 51st birthday (the 8th). Mounting a bandwagon of praise for the later volumes were such contemporary luminaries as Adam Smith, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, Lord Camden, and Horace Walpole. Smith remarked that Gibbon's triumph had positioned him "at the very head of [Europe's] literary tribe."

Reviews

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final volume (Folio Society edition) marks the end of the Roman Empire’s 1,500-year history and Edward Gibbon’s 3,000-page magnum opus, which began in the year America was born and ended just before George Washington’s presidency.

“The Greeks, by their intestine divisions, were the authors of their final ruin.”

The previous volume ended with the expulsion of the “Latins” from Constantinople by Michael Palaeologus.

Volume VIII begins with the reign of the Palaeologus dynasty beginning in 1261 CE, which ruled the Eastern Empire for the remainder of its existence; indeed, it was the longest dynasty in the entire history of the Roman Empire.

The author introduces Genghis Khan and his descendants, with special emphasis on Batu Khan who invaded the countries of Eastern Europe and reached as far as the border of Germany, to provide a necessary background on the rise of the Ottomans:

“One hundred and forty years after the death of [Genghis], his degenerate race, the dynasty of the Yuen, was expelled by a revolt of the native Chinese; and the Mogul emperors were lost in the oblivion of the desert … and the decline of the Moguls gave a free scope to the rise and progress of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE.”

The decline of the Mongols coincided with the ascendancy of the ancestors of Othman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire who conquered Byzantine Bithynia almost without resistance while the distracted Greek emperors fought civil war.

“From the conquest of [Bithynia] we may date the true era of the Ottoman empire.”

As far as I could discern, the “hatred of the Latin name,” and I mean an unnatural abhorrence, by the Greeks constituted one of the major causes of the Byzantine Empire’s collapse.

Manuel II Palaeologus, emperor of the East, himself admitted:

“Our last resource against the Turks is their fear of our union with the Latins, of the warlike nations of the West, who may arm for our relief and for their destruction.”

In fact, it had become the de facto policy of some Greek emperors to seek closer ties with the “Latins” to deter the Ottomans.

But his Greek subjects would “rather behold in Constantinople the turban of Mohammed than the pope's tiara or a cardinal's hat,” and their “native cowardice” resulted in their fall to Mohammed II and the Turks in 1453 CE.

The invention of guns and heavy cannons probably accelerated the collapse as well, seeing how the Turks used both with lethal efficacy in their siege of Constantinople, which lasted 53 days.

The nondescript death of Constantine Palaeologus, the last emperor of the East, marked the end of history’s greatest empire.

This volume was sadly a disappointment. It was anti-climactic, mostly a confused ensemble of uninteresting information, and filled with uninspiring characters, with the exception of Rienzi.

Perhaps the lack of climax was more due to the fact that the Byzantine Empire had already long receded into the shadows of the greater monarchies of the West by the time it fell, rather than to the author’s writing. Nevertheless, this was difficult to get through.

Ironically, the life of a Roman plebeian named Nicholas Gabrini (“Rienzi”), the inspiration for Wagner’s opera of the same name, was for me the most interesting part of this volume about Constantinople.

The author lists four principal causes of the ruin of Rome, the last of which was “the most potent and forcible cause of destruction”:

I. The injuries of time and nature.
II. The hostile attacks of the barbarians and Christians.
III. The use and abuse of materials.
IV. The domestic quarrels of the Romans.

Finally, he concludes with a summation of Volumes I to VIII:

“The various causes and progressive effects are connected with many of the events most interesting in human annals: the artful policy of the Caesars, who long maintained the name and image of a free republic; the disorders of military despotism; the rise, establishment, and sects of Christianity; the foundation of Constantinople; the division of the monarchy; the invasion and settlements of the barbarians of Germany and Scythia; the institutions of the civil law; the character and religion of Mohammed; the temporal sovereignty of the popes; the restoration and decay of the Western Empire of Charlemagne; the crusades of the Latins in the East; the conquests of the Saracens and Turks; the ruin of the Greek empire; the state and revolutions of Rome in the middle age.”

Volume VII had the best illustrations, and Volume I remains my favorite.

I give The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire an overall rating of 4.5/5.

[Richard Bracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of the movie Interstellar you may recall the rationale certain scientists had in fabricating a tremendous lie in order to harness the powerful human instinct of self preservation.

Dr. Mann: ”You never would have come here unless you believed you were going to save them. Evolution has yet to transcend that simple barrier. We can care deeply - selflessly - about those we know, but that empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight”.

The final volume of Edward Gibbon’s 20 year masterpiece painstakingly describes this conclusion in slow motion as it takes the reader through the rise of Genghis Khan, Timour, the sack of Constantinople, and the Catholic church’s ascension in Italy.

”"Where are now these Romans?”, rhetorically asks a late Italian political leader in 1347, “their virtue, their justice, their power? why was I not born in those happy times?"

Gibbon would likely have replied that it wasn’t the Goths and Vandals who were responsible for the destruction of Rome, but the avarice and billions a self-serving decisions which steadily hollowed out that magnificent civilization.