There are way too many good quotes in this book, but I've selected two that I think are representative of Edward Gibbon.

"Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom."

Wow, Gibbon, you're so wise!

"Philip...was an Arab by birth, and consequently, in the earlier part of his life, a robber by profession."

...Jesus Christ Gibbon.

After dwelling too long in the realms of fiction, I decided to challenge myself by picking up one of the great western works of non-fiction, in Gibbons' first volume.

I braced myself for something dry and slightly inaccessible, but to my delight, he weaves a story that is full of character and archetypes that careful readers will recognize from a variety of other media -- from careful Augustus to the monster Caligula to the brilliant Diocletian.

Despite reading warnings that Gibbon's language was formidable, I found his prose to be somewhat refreshing. Reading on the train or in a crowded room sometimes required repeated attempts at some of his longer, indirect statements, but the most part, it was an easy work to sink into.

It's not a work without flaws, of course. In his zest to cover such a wide tract of material, Gibbons glosses over details, like the circumstances of battles, that would have made for truly terrific reading. His prejudices are also on proud display, making it difficult not to roll one's eyes whenever he waxes poetic about the weakness of women, the effeminate character of the East, and the unquestionable veracity of Christianity.

Even so, it's a work that I plan to return to. There are no shortage of lessons to be gleaned that remain applicable to our own age of crumbling empire.

I really enjoyed this history until the last chapter - The Rise of Christianity. It is clear that Gibbon is very much biased in favor of Christianity despite calling his account impartial. The rest of the book does seem largely free from bias and as close to the historical truth as possible. This last section, however, really just serves as an apology for the inevitability of the rise of Christianity due to its inherent truth. I didn't realize that his history would turn into a religious text in its later chapters. Had he not gone to so much trouble to establish the superiority of Christianity, I would have rated this a five star book, but he drifted so far from the premise of his book, that I had to dock a star.

The rise of Christianity is important for the history of the empire, but it's not necessary to go into so much detail about how the structures slowly developed and how the religion won so many people over because it's true and its obvious truth called out to the people just searching for it. This section has important parts, but I felt I lost them because of all the proselytizing.

4.75 - abosulutly engrossing if dated