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Sign up todayThe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 2
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Learn moreFamous for its unflagging narrative power, fine organization, and irresistibly persuasive arguments, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has earned a permanent place of honor in historical literature. Gibbon's elegantly detached erudition is seasoned with an ironic wit, and remarkably little of his work is outdated.
This second volume covers AD 395 to AD 1185, from the reign of Justinian in the East to the establishment of the German Empire of the West. It recounts the desperate attempts to hold off the barbarians, palace revolutions and assassinations, theological controversy, and lecheries and betrayals, all in a setting of phenomenal magnificence.
Edward Gibbon (1737โ1794), an English historian and member of Parliament, had little formal education. He went to Oxford, but was forced to leave when he converted to Roman Catholicism. His family then sent him to Lausanne, where he was reconverted to Protestantism. His most important work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788.
Bernard Mayesย is a teacher, administrator, corporate executive, broadcaster, actor, dramatist, and former international commentator on US culture. He is best known for his readings of historical classics.
Reviews
โEdward Gibbon, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has always been my cynosureโฆGibbonโs mind was surely the most powerful and most lucid one that has appeared so far in the whole distinguished company of Western historiansโฆGibbon [produced] a masterpiece of historical research, construction, and writing which had no superior in its own genre in any literature.โ
“Splendid.”
“[Gibbon] stood on the summit of the Renaissance achievement and looked back over the waste of history to ancient Rome, as from one mountain top to another.”
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