Customer Reviews

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3 of 6 (Everyman's Library)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the best edition available of Gibbon's history.

+ It has all of Gibbon's footnotes;
+ it is packaged in an attractive boxed set;
+ it's hard bound in good plain cloth, not snobby leather;
+ it's printed on fine paper;
+ it can be expected to last into the next century;
+ it leaves enough white margin for writing notes;
+ it has an index;
+ it even smells good.

Caveat

- It gives no translation of the better Latin and Greek passages;
- the black paste used to print the cover's gold-on-black logo flakes off;
- don't forget to order the other half (volumes 4, 5, and 6).

(The only other edition worth considering is the unabridged paperback Penguin edition. It also contains the full notes, and it is cheaper, but it is bulkier since two volumes are bound as one and the paper is of much lower quality, so the that other edition won't last much more than 10 or 20 years...)

Obviously, if you're already here at this page considering Gibbon's great history, the greatest work of its kind in world literature, then you probably know quite a bit about it. What you're wondering is: Is it really worth reading? Will I enjoy reading it? Will it be worth the time I spend reading it? Will I learn anything vital for living my life? Damn good questions! The classics are tough to review, since there are thousands of reviews in all sorts of books and venues, and Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" has received its share of coverage. So here's what you need to know, in my opinion. First, Gibbon is a chore to read. The heavily stylized writing, each sentence constructed like a lovely portico in a magnificent Roman temple, is daunting, even for people who read classics all the time. But give yourself about two weeks of steady reading, and it will begin to click for you, and then you'll really start to love the style if you have any taste or discernment at all. Those elegantly multifarious sentences and paragraphs will begin to read like graceful passages of poetry in an expansive Homeric epic. Second, Gibbon has a mountain of interesting things to say, once you get accustomed to his periodic style. The best way to read this stuff is to read it like a collection of short stories or essays. Don't plunk yourself down one lonely night brave intending to read this overwhelmingly massive tome from start to finish in 6 months or a year. Your ship of Good Hope will soon founder on the rocks of the "Decline's" sheer volume and the unrelenting, exhausting high seriousness of Gibbon. Pick one emperor's story, a section, a few paragraphs even, and just enjoy that one passage, as though you were gazing on a little stained-glass window in some dim corner of a giant cathedral. Later, to get a first taste of the full depth and breadth of Gibbon's approach, take up the deservedly famous chapters on the origins of Christianity, Chapters 15 and 16 in Volume I. That will give you the feel for the mighty swell of his thought and the powerful turn of his ideas. Third, the break-up of the empire is just one of those topics it pays, in many ways and throughout your life of thought and inquiry, to know well. And Gibbon is the best guide, by far, because he has a knack for plot. As scholarly as his work is, Gibbon tells a mean story. It helps a great deal to have a neat summary of Roman imperial history at hand, perhaps one of those excellent books on Rome by Michael Grant, or the Encyclopedia Britannica articles on the Roman Empire, to get the overview you need to keep the narrative straight, so you can concentrate on Gibbon's lofty evaluation of the action and the social and political movements that sway it first one way and then another. So, you see, once you get the style down and you start to enjoy Gibbon's voice and his approach to concepts and argument, then you will really start to profit from knowing this history and Gibbon's presentation of it. It will greatly increase the depth of your understanding of politics, power, social movements, law, religion, ambition, evil, cruelty, human folly, and more. It is one of our greatest treatises, in my view, on human "sin" and misery, leavened with just a pinch, a sadly slight pinch, of sweet human loving-kindness. After all, the Roman Empire was the greatest experiment in the history of humankind in putting an end to our collective misery, with the creation and enforcement of the Pax Romana, the worldwide peace Rome sought to impose on its world for the supposed good of all who fell under her sway. O, the arrogance! Seeing how this great mission half succeeded for a time and then failed is highly instructive. Gibbon really makes you appreciate what the founders of the American Republic achieved, and the great thinkers and doers of American history knew all this stuff backwards. For them and their world, this history was one colossal cautionary tale comprising dozens of lesser cautionary tales. Surely, you can tell by now that I am urging you to read as much of the "Decline and Fall" as you can. It is great history, great writing, great story. It is one of our greatest pieces of literature, in that lofty league with Shakespeare and Dante and Milton and Goethe. It might be a smidgen greater even than their masterpieces, in my eyes. Gibbon's work is at the summit of what you must know to be a civilized and well-educated human being, to know deeply what it means to strive for a good world. But don't be hard on yourself if it takes a long time to get going and to start enjoying Gibbon. You're not alone in that. But the pay-off will almost surely be very satisfying. Please see my interpretation of the star ratings and my other current recommendations at my amazon site.

These three volumes constitute the first half of Edward Gibbon's masterpiece. Many would-be readers will find reading Gibbon to be somewhat daunting, but his wit, scholarship, and narrative drive (in these early volumes, anyway) make this book hard to resist.

A word about the text. Everyman's Library reprints the famous J.B. Bury edition (Bury was a famous Irish historian who wrote a well-respected History of Greece), which is close to 100 years old (it dates to 1909). If you're reading Gibbon for a history course on an undergraduate or post-graduate level, you should probably read the more recent David Womerseley edition, which is available in a three-volume Penguin paperback (with, unfortunately, unreadably microscopic type). The hardcover edition was remaindered recently, though, so you might find it on Amazon secondhand.

If you're reading Gibbon for pleasure, however, the Everyman's Library edition is the one to get. The individual volumes are just the right size, and the text is large enough and clear enough to be read easily. The text is complete, which is not always the case (some fancy editions -- the Folio Society's comes to mind -- tend to cut back on the footnotes).

Gibbon makes great bedtime reading. Take him slowly, and don't rush. Keep your eye on the footnotes -- some of the best and snarkiest stuff in Gibbon is discreetly hidden in the footnotes (in one of my favorite early footnotes [in Chapter IV] he mentions the giraffe, "the tallest, the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadrupeds."). If you decide to push on to the second three volumes (Chapters 39-71), be prepared to be patient, because there are some rough spots. It might take you a while to get through it (my last reading of the entire work took me 26 months), but Gibbon is more than worth the effort. Which is why I've just started reading him again -- for the fifth time.

I always loved Roman and Byzantine history, so it was only a matter of time before I "knew" I had to read this. Like most of you I had heard a lot of modern authors and historians condemn Gibbon but I found him to be very entertaining and informative. Unlike the genius below who POSTED HER PSAT SCORES, I liked his writing style. It's obvious that the FLOW of history is important to him. I especially enjoyed the chapters in the first book about early Christianity - he actually takes a very harsh view that was very refreshing. His storytelling is superior to all others and this book is rightfully considered among the best works of the English language.

However, Gibbon does have some drawbacks- though it wasn't his fault. The Byzantine Empire, Slavs, Bulgarians, etc all get shafted by Gibbon. It's understandable since at the time this work was written, Byzantine study was not given serious thought. Overall a 5 star book! For Byzantine history I would recommend Procopius, Psellus, or "Romanus Lecapanus and his Reign" by Sir Steven Runcimen. Can't go wrong with those!

The previous reviewer, Mr. Pille [now "WTA," I see], huffs and puffs as is his wont but, as is often the case, he is dead on target with regard to Gibbon's "Decline and Fall."

Skimming through the Amazon reviews provides a fascinating view of the demotic response to a great classic work in the early Twenty-first Century. Perhaps the most depressing of the bunch is the reviewer who writes, "You will not gain anything from the content of the book other than the chrnological [sic] linking of facts and entertaining stories. Second, this work is really really L O N G. If you are looking for a narrative history of the Roman Empire for the entertainment value, look elsewhere." Those words are so wrong in so many ways. Clearly the poor devil who wrote them, like so many others of our age, has been infected with the peculiar notion that the point of writing is to impart facts efficiently and the point of reading is to confirm your own beliefs. Sad ... oh, sad.

Many reviewers look askance at Gibbon's view of history. Well, that is certainly not new. Some suggest other books with other views. It is well and good that they should do so. There have been many books published and many views expressed on the fall of the Romans (and of other empires) in the 217 years since the final volume of the "Decline and Fall" came off the presses, but Gibbon is still here. If some of those other books are still held in high regard 217 years from now, I hope that someone will come forward to defend them as classics, too.

About ten years ago, as I was growing bored with newspaper reading on my daily trips to New York and back to Philadelphia, I started Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I'd had the 6-volume set for some years, one of many fine, old, numbered sets printed in the last century and bought by me during the previous decade from Bryn Mawr College's used book store. (An aside: none of the sets--I have about ten or so--had been read through. I know this because in each case, after a chapter or so, I had to slit the pages of the signatures as I read.) I was enthralled immediately with Gibbon's history. I believe Gibbon's opening sentence to be among the best of any work. It was difficult for me to get used to the lofty style, but after a chapter or two, I was acclimated. (It's still the case--it takes a chapter or so before my grammar and syntax can power up to Gibbon's level.) As I read I could hear in his cadences and phrasing the Gibbon that Winston Churchill credited with forming his own style. So began a fascinating journey in those fine, old books, one that I have recently begun again. And though I discovered the route by chance, may I recommend it to you? From the Roman Empire through the fall of the eastern empire (Gibbon, 6 volumes) change the scene to Spain, which began to form with the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella about the time that the Turks sacked Constantinople. Follow Spain to its conquest of the Moors (Prescott, 4 volumes) to the Conquest of Mexico (Prescott, another 4 volumes), of the Incas (4 again) to the story of Charles V, King of Spain, the low countries, etc. and Holy Roman Emperor (Robertson, 5 volumes--included within the 19-volume set of Prescott's histories); finally to the unfinished story of Charles' son Philip, Elizabeth's suitor, then adversary whose Spanish Armada was defeated by her in 1588. Prescott died before completing his work on Philip, but Motley wrote about him from the Dutch perspective in his chronicle of their 80-year (!) struggle for Independence, The Founding of the Dutch Republic (4 volumes) and History of the United States of the Netherlands (another 3). Finally, move to Macauley's History of England from the Accession of James II, another 50 years in 10 volumes. I hope that first sentence of Gibbon's will hook others as it did me. I have found no modern writer of history who is able to write so clearly and nobly as those I mention above.

Before tackling Gibbon's daunting work, I had only read smaller volumes of history. Some Livy here, a Polybius there, a Dio in between, but I was unprepared for the joys I would find with Gibbon.

His style is typical 18th century. This may take some getting used to, but it shouldn't take much. From the opening chapter, Gibbon brings the reader through an exciting, fulfilling, and sometimes a hopelessly tragic panorama of the Roman Empire.

He has been criticized by modern scholarship as misleading, since he neglected issues that modern scholars find so pivotal in Roman and Byzantine history, yet the volumes are wonderful reads nevertheless. He has also been criticized for his sarcastic criticism and denunciation of weak socities, religious institutions, government, cultures, etc., but this has been set down as an 18th century fixation -- and who can argue against this?

Gibbon treats his subject very lucidly. He appears in his footnotes from time to time, just to visit with his readership. I thoroughly like the man!

I purchased all six volumes of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This work is written in the beautiful and fluid 18th century English. Gibbon is a master author, and the book was extremely well researched, consulting the works of Tacitus, Livy, Suetonius, and Polybius, Roman historians of fame. Volumes 1-3 contains the history of the Roman empire from 180 A.D. to 490 A.D., covering the end of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, to the time when Odoacer usurped the throne of the western empire. Volumes 4-6 contains the history of the eastern empire, from the late 300's to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. I highly recommend both box sets. All volumes together are approximately 3600 pages, and go into detail for pages subjects that are written only for about a few paragraphs in other books. A must for any enthusiast of the history of the Roman Empire.

The fact that Edward Gibbon had a sense of humour is forgotton these days. His work is remembered mostly as the proverbial "dry tome" by those who haven't read it. I tell you, that impression just ain't true! After you soak up Gibbon, you'll get frustrated by the colourless prose of most modern historians, or anyone for that matter.

He has a rich sense of narrative that only a few modern historians can match. The reader is transported from the end of the ancient world to the beginning of the modern.(His work, almost grudgingly, takes in the Byzantine Empire up to 1453) As a stylist, his language is unique. The work is worth reading for that alone. I mentioned his humour, which is wickedly ironic and beautifully refined at the same time. You probably won't laugh out loud, but you will be seduced by it. His contempories, especially the stuffy ones, were shocked by his tone, even while they admitted his erudition. His attitude toward Christianity particularly raised the heckles of the establishment. His character sketches are a delight and for those who like action, there's plenty of great battle scenes and palace coups.

Don't be put off by the length of the work. It's worth reading selectively. And it does have its weak points. He didn't like Byzantium at all, for example, and gives a totally misleading impression of that great empire. Also, his "General Impressions on the Fall of the Western Empire" while picturesque, doesn't really make much sense.

Gibbon wasn't sure why, exactly, the Empire fell. Don't expect to be enlightened on that point. He gives lots of theories, but something tells me he wasn't convinced by any of them himself. He was too good an historian to believe we can fully understand that kind of thing.

The cool thing about E. Gibbon is that he remains a maverick. He didn't found a school of thought and certainly didn't follow one. Trying to fit him in a neat hole is pointless. From our perspective, however, his views on "Civilisation" are quite ! smug. He wrote at a time when contempories imagined Europe had only just reached a point higher than that reached by classical civilisation, he imagined the community of European states could never again fall from grace in the same way. We know different.

My advice: Read an edition that has all the footnotes intact. The joy is in the details.

Gibbon's great work was published in the late 18th century. Don't read it looking for a contemporary style "historical analysis." Read it for its timeless wisdom and beauty, for which there is no parallel. Today's college history text is to Gibbon as the latest Spice Girls album is to Mozart.

Winston Churchill was largely self-educated, and he wrote that Gibbon loomed large in his reading during his early 20's. Read Gibbon; then read Churchill's famous war speeches. Notice the cadence, and consider why Churchill's Nobel prize was awarded for his oratory.

Ah, Sunday morning, a pot of coffee, and Gibbon! You can obtain Gibbon's history in many different editions new and old, cheap paperbacks and pricy collectors versions. Just get one, preferably unabridged, and enjoy.