The "Best of" Edward Gibbon's
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
last update: 13 April 1996
Provided by E-Mail:
zimm@alumni.caltech.edu
"It was among the ruins of the Capitol
that I first conceived the idea of a work which has
amused and exercised nearly twenty years of my life,
and which, however inadequate to my own wishes, I
finally deliver to the curiosity and candour of the
public." (Edward Gibbon, Lausanne, 27 June 1787)
"Another damned, thick, square, book! Always scribble,
scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?" (William Henry,
Duke of Gloucester, upon receiving the second volume
from the author, 1781)
rance@attmail.com writes on 16 Mar 1996:
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.
Table of Contents
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Chapter 1: The Extent and Military Force of the Empire in the
Age of the Antonines
Chapter 2: Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman
Empire, in the Age of the Antonines
Chapter 3: Of the Constitution of the Roman Empire, in the
Age of the Antonines
(96 - 180 A.D.)
Chapter 4: The Cruelty, Follies, and Murder of Commodus --- Election
of Pertinax --- His Attempts to reform the State --- His Assassination
by the Praetorian Guards
(180 - 193 A.D.)
Chapter 5: Public Sale of the Empire to Didius Julianus by
the Praetorian Guards --- Clodius Albanus in Britain, Pescennius
Niger in Syria, and Septimus Severus in Pannonia, declare against
the Murderers of Pertinax --- Civil Wars and Victory of Severus
over his three Rivals --- Relaxation of Discipline --- New Maxims
of Government
(193 - 197 A.D.)
Chapter 6: The Death of Severus --- Tyranny of Caracalla --- Usurpation
of Macrinus --- Follies of Elagabalus --- Virtues of Alexander
Severus --- Licentiousness of the Army --- General State of
the Roman Finances
(208 - 235 A.D.)
Chapter 7: The Elevation and Tyranny of Maximin --- Rebellion
in Africa and Italy, under the Authority of the Senate --- Civil
Wars and Seditions --- Violent Deaths of Maximin and his Son, of
Maximus and Balbinus, and of the three Gordians --- Usurpation
and secular Games of Philip
(235 - 248 A.D.)
Chapter 8: Of the State of Persia after the Restoration of the
Monarchy by Artaxerxes
(165 - 240 A.D.)
Chapter 9: The State of Germany till the Invasion of the Barbarians,
in the time of the Emperor Decius
Chapter 10: The Emperors Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian,
and Gallienus --- The general Irruption of the Barbarians --- The
thirty Tyrants
(248 - 268 A.D.)
Chapter 11: Reign of Claudius --- Defeat of the Goths --- Victories,
Triumph, and Death of Aurelian
(268 - 275 A.D.)
Chapter 12: Conduct of the Army and Senate after the Death of
Aurelian --- Reigns of Tacitus, Probus, Carus and his Sons
275 - 285 A.D.)
Chapter 13: The Reign of Diocletian and his Three Associates,
Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius --- General Re-establishment
of Order and Tranquility --- The Persian War, Victory, and
Triumph --- The new Form of Administration --- Abdication and
Retirement of Diocletian and Maximian
(285 - 313 A.D.)
Chapter 14: Troubles after the Abdication of Diocletian --- Death
of Constantius --- Elevation of Constantine and Maxentius --- Six
Emperors of the same Time --- Death of Maximian and
Galerius --- Victories of Constantine over Maxentius and
Licinius --- Reunion of the Empire under the Authority of
Constantine
(305 - 324 A.D.)
Chapter 15: The Progress of the Christian Religion, and the
Sentiments, Manners, Numbers, and Condition of the Primitive
Christians
Chapter 16: The Conduct of the Roman Government towards the
Christians, from the Reign of Nero to that of Constantine
(180 - 313 A.D.)
Chapter 17: Foundation of Constantinople --- Political System
of Constantine and his Successors --- Military Discipline --- The
Palace --- The Finances
(300 - 500 A.D.)
Chapter 18: Character of Constantine --- Gothic War --- Death of
Constantine --- Division of the Empire among his three
sons --- Persian War --- Tragic Deaths of Constantine the Younger
and Constans --- Usurpation of Magnentius --- Civil
War --- Victory of Constantius
(342 - 353 A.D.)
Chapter 19: Constantius sole Emperor --- Elevation and Death
of Gallus --- Danger and Elevation of Julian --- Sarmatian and
Persian Wars --- Victories of Julian in Gaul
(351 - 360 A.D.)
Chapter 20: The Motives, Progress, and Effects of the Conversion
of Constantine --- Legal Establishment and Constitution of
the Christian or Catholic Church
(306 - 438 A.D.)
Chapter 21: Persecution of Heresy --- The Schism of the Donatists ---
The Arian Controversy --- Athanasius --- Distracted State of the
Church and Empire under Constantine and his Sons --- Toleration of
Paganism
(312 - 362 A.D.)
Chapter 22: Julian is declared Emperor by the Legions of Gaul --- His March
and Success --- The Death of Constantius --- Civil Administration
of Julian
(360 - 361 A.D.)
Chapter 23: The Religion of Julian --- Universal Toleration --- He attempts
to restore and reform the Pagan Worship --- To rebuild the Temple of
Jerusalem --- His Artful Persecution of the Christians --- Mutual
Zeal and Injustice
(351 - 363 A.D.)
Chapter 31: ...
Chapter 52: ...
"In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome
comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised
portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were
guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but
powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the
union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused
the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution
was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to
possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the
executive powers of government. During a happy period (A.D. 98-180)
of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted
by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two
Antonines. It is the design of this, and of the two succeeding
chapters, to describe the prosperous condition of their empire; and
afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most
important circumstances of its decline and fall; a revolution which
will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the nations of the
earth." Chapter 1
"Trajan was ambitious of fame; and as long as mankind shall continue
to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their
benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the
most exalted characters." Chapter 1
"That public virtue which among the ancients was denominated
patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the
preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are
members. Such a sentiment, which had rendered the legions of the
republic almost invincible, could make but a very feeble impression on
the mercenary servants of a despotic prince; and it became necessary
to supply that defect by other motives, of a different, but not less
forcible nature; honour and religion." Chapter 1
"Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient
diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline."
Chapter 1
"The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world,
were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the
philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally
useful." Chapter 2
"Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of
sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards
lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude." Chapter
2
"Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition, was not denied to
the Roman slave; and if he had any opportunity of rendering himself
either useful or agreeable, he might very naturally expect that the
diligence and fidelity of a few years would be rewarded with the
inestimable gift of freedom." Chapter 2
"Among the innumerable monuments of architecture constructed by the
Romans, how many have escaped the notice of history, how few have
resisted the ravages of time and barbarism! And yet even the majestic
ruins that are still scattered over Italy and the provinces, would be
sufficient to prove that those countries were once the seat of a
polite and powerful empire. Their greatness alone, or their beauty,
might deserve our attention; but they are rendered more interesting by
two important circumstances, which connect the agreeable history of
the arts with the more useful history of human matters. Many of these
works were erected at private expense, and almost all were intended
for public benefit." Chapter 2
Chapter 2
"Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures; since the productions
of nature are the materials of art. Under the Roman empire, the
labour of an industrious and ingenious people was variously, but
incessantly employed, in the service of the rich. In their dress,
their table, their houses, and their furniture, the favourites of
fortune united every refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of
splendour, whatever could soothe their pride or gratify their
sensuality. Such refinements, under the odious name of luxury, have
been severely arraigned by the moralists of every age; and it might
perhaps be more conducive to the virtue, as well as happiness, of
mankind, if all possessed the necessities, and none of the
superfluities, of life. But in the present imperfect condition of
society, luxury, though it may proceed from vice or folly, seems to be
the only means that can correct the unequal distribution of property.
The diligent mechanic, and the skilful artist, who have obtained no
share in the division of the earth, receive a voluntary tax from the
possessors of land; and the latter are prompted, by a sense of
interest, to improve those estates, with whose produce they may
purchase additional pleasures. This operation, the particular effects
of which are felt in every society, acted with much more diffusive
energy in the Roman world. The provinces would soon have been
exhausted of their wealth, if the manufactures and commerce of luxury
had not insensibly restored to the industrious subjects the sums which
were exacted from them by the arms and authority of Rome."
Chapter 2
"It is scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should
discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and
corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the
Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the
empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level,
the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit
evaporated." Chapter 2
"The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition, might be
usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is
the connection between the throne and the altar, that the banner of
the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. A
martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of
property, and collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only
balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprises
of an aspiring prince." Chapter 3
"The character of the tribunes was, in every respect, different from
that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest and
humble; but their persons were sacred and inviolable. Their force was
suited rather for opposition than for action. They were instituted to
defend the oppressed, to pardon offences, to arraign the enemies of
the people, and, when they judged it necessary, to stop, by a single
word, the whole machine of government." Chapter 3
"To resume, in a few words, the system of the Imperial government, as
it was instituted by Augustus, and maintained by those princes who
understood their own interest and that of the people, it may be
defined an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth.
The masters of the Roman world surrounded their throne with darkness,
concealed their irresistible strength, and humbly professed themselves
the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they
dictated and obeyed." Chapter 3
"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." Chapter 3
"The two Antonines (for it is of them that we are now speaking)
governed the Roman world forty-two years, with the same invariable
spirit of wisdom and virtue. ... Their united reigns are possibly
the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people
was the sole object of government." Chapter 3
"Antoninus diffused order and tranquility over the greatest part of
the earth. His reign is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing
very few materials for history; which is, indeed, little more than the
register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."
Chapter 3
"The virtue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was of a severer and more
laborious kind. It was the well-earned harvest of many a learned
conference, of many a patient lecture, and many a midnight
lucubration. At the age of twelve years, he embraced the rigid system
of the Stoics, which taught him to submit his body to his mind, his
passions to his reason; to consider virtue as the only good, vice as
the only evil, all things external as things indifferent."
Chapter 3
"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." Chapter
3
"But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in
those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous."
Chapter 4
"Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample
privileges of state reason. He promised only to betray; he flattered
only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths
and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always
released him from the inconvenient obligation." Chapter 4
"Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world,
an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for
ridicule." Chapter 7
"His manners were less pure, but his character was equally amiable
with that of his father. Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a
library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his
inclinations, and from the productions which he left behind him, it
appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use
rather than ostentation. (By each of his concubines, the younger
Gordian left three or four children; his literary productions were by
no means contemptible.)" Chapter 7
"The subject, however various and important, has already been so
frequently, so ably, and so successfully discussed, that it is now
grown familiar to the reader, and difficult to the writer."
Chapter 9
"The Germans, in the age of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of
letters; and the use of letters is the principal circumstance that
distinguishes a civilised people from a herd of savages incapable of
knowledge or reflection. Without that artificial help, the human
memory soon dissipates or corrupts the ideas intrusted to her charge;
and the nobler faculties of the mind, no longer supplied with models
or with materials, gradually forget their powers; the judgment becomes
feeble and lethargic, the imagination languid or irregular."
Chapter 9
"The value of money has been settled by general consent to express our
wants and our property, as letters were invented to express our ideas;
and both these institutions, by giving a more active energy to the
powers and passions of human nature, have contributed to multiply the
objects they were designed to represent." Chapter 9
"The possession and the enjoyment of property are the pledges which
bind a civilised people to an improved country." Chapter
9
"A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters,
arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the
enjoyment of liberty. Their poverty secured their freedom, since our
desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism."
Chapter 9
"The comparative view of the powers of the magistrates, in two
remarkable instances, is alone sufficient to represent the whole
system of German manners. The disposal of the landed property within
their district was absolutely vested in their hands, and they
distributed it every year according to a new division. At the same
time, they were not authorised to punish with death, to imprison, or
even to strike, a private citizen. A people thus jealous of their
persons, and careless of their possessions, must have been totally
destitute of industry and the arts, but animated with a high sense of
honour and independence." Chapter 9
"Although the progress of civilisation has undoubtedly contributed to
assuage the fiercer passions of human nature, it seems to have been
less favourable to the virtue of chastity, whose most dangerous enemy
is the softness of the mind. The refinements of life corrupt while
they polish the intercourse of the sexes. The gross appetite of love
becomes most dangerous when it is elevated, or rather, indeed,
disguised by sentimental passion. The elegance of dress, of motion,
and of manners gives a lustre to beauty, and inflames the senses
through the imagination. Luxurious entertainments, midnight dances,
and licentious spectacles, present at once temptation and opportunity
to female frailty. From such dangers the unpolished wives of the
barbarians were secured by poverty, solitude, and the painful cares of
a domestic life. The German huts, open on every side to the eye of
indiscretion or jealousy, were a better safeguard of conjugal fidelity
than the walls, the bolts, and the eunuchs of a persian harem. To
this reason, another may be added of a more honourable nature. The
Germans treated their women with esteem and confidence, consulted them
on every occasion of importance, and fondly believed that in their
breasts resided a sanctity and wisdom more than human." Chapter
9
"The love of liberty was the ruling
passion of these Germans; the enjoyment of it, their best treasure;
the word that expressed that enjoyment the most pleasing to their ear.
They deserved, they assumed, they maintained the honourable epithet of
Franks or Freemen; which concealed, though it did not extinguish, the
peculiar names of the several states of the confederacy."
Chapter 10
"Such, indeed, is the policy of civil war: severely to remember
injuries, and to forget the most important services. Revenge is
profitable, gratitude is expensive." Chapter 11
"On the slightest touch the unsupported fabric of their pride and
power fell to the ground. The expiring senate displayed a sudden
lustre, blazed for a moment, and was extinguished for ever."
Chapter 12
"The most distinguished merit of those two officers was their
respective prowess, of the one in the combats of Bacchus, of the other
in those of Venus.... [footnote: A very surprising instance is
recorded of the prowess of Proculus. He had taken one hundred
Sarmatian virgins. The rest of the story he must relate in his own
language: Ex his una nocte decem inivi; omnes tamen, quod in me erat,
mulieres intra dies quindecim reddidi."] Chapter 12
"Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length banished the
study of alchymy; and the present age, however desirous of riches, is
content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and industry."
Chapter 13
"His sumptuous tents, and those of his satraps, afforded an immense
booty to the conqueror; and an incident is mentioned which proves the
rustic but martial ignorance of the legions in the elegant
superfluities of life. A bag of shining leather, filled with pearls,
fell into the hands of a private soldier; he carefully preserved the
bag, but he threw away its contents, judging that whatever was of no
use could not possibly be of any value." Chapter 13
"It is seldom that minds long exercised in business have formed any
habits of conversing with themselves, and in the loss of power they
principally regret the want of occupation." Chapter 13
"The knowledge that is suited to our situation and powers, the whole
compass of moral, natural, and mathematical science, was neglected by
the new Platonists; whilst they exhausted their strength in the verbal
disputes of metaphysics, attempted to explore the secrets of the
invisible world, and studied to reconcile Aristotle with Plato, on
subjects of which both these philosophers were as ignorant as the rest
of mankind." Chapter 13
"There are two very natural propensities which we may distinguish in
the most virtuous and liberal dispositions, the love of pleasure and
the love of action. If the former is refined by art and learning,
improved by the charms of social intercourse, and corrected by a just
regard to economy, to health, and to reputation, it is productive of
the greatest part of the happiness of private life. The love of
action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature. It
often leads to anger, to ambition, and to revenge; but when it is
guided by the sense of propriety and benevolence, it becomes the
parent of every virtue, and, if those virtues are accompanied with
equal abilities, a family, a state, or an empire may be indebted for
their safety and prosperity to the undaunted courage of a single man.
To the love of pleasure we may therefore ascribe most of the
agreeable, to the love of action we may attribute most of the useful
and respectable, qualifications. The character in which both the one
and the other should be united and harmonised would seem to constitute
the most perfect idea of human nature." Chapter 15
"In their censures of luxury the fathers are extremely minute and
circumstantial; and among the various articles which excite their
pious indignation, we may enumerate false hair, garments of any colour
except white, instruments of music, vases of gold or silver, downy
pillows (as Jacob reposed his head on a stone), white bread, foreign
wines, public salutations, the use of warm baths, and the practice of
shaving the beard, which, according to Tertullian, is a lie against
our own faces, and am impious attempt to improve the works of the
Creator." Chapter 15
"The chaste severity of the fathers in whatever related to the
commerce of the two sexes flowed from the same principle --- their
abhorrence of every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual and
degrade the spiritual nature of man. It was their favourite opinion,
that if Adam had preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have
lived for ever in a state of virgin purity, and that some harmless
mode of vegetation might have peopled paradise with a race of innocent
and immortal beings. The use of marriage was permitted only to his
fallen posterity, as a necessary expedient to continue the human
species, and as a restraint, however imperfect, on the natural
licentiousness of desire. The hesitation of the orthodox casuists on
this interesting subject betrays the perplexity of men unwilling to
approve an institution which they were compelled to tolerate. The
enumeration of the very whimsical laws which they most
circumstantially imposed on the marriage-bed would force a smile from
the young and a blush from the fair. It was their unanimous sentiment
that a first marriage was adequate to all the purposes of nature and
of society. The sensual connection was refined into a resemblance of
the mystic union of Christ with his church, and was pronounced to be
indissoluble either by divorce or by death. The practice of second
nuptials was branded with the name of a legal adultery; and the
persons who were guilty of so scandalous an offence against Christian
purity were soon excluded from the honours, and even from the arms, of
the church. Since desire was imputed as a crime, and marriage was
tolerated as a defect, it was consistent with the same principles to
consider a state of celibacy as the nearest approach to the Divine
perfection. It was with the utmost difficulty that ancient Rome could
support the institution of six vestals; but the primitive church was
filled with a great number of persons of either sex who had devoted
themselves to the profession of perpetual chastity." Chapter
15
"But the human character, however it may be exalted or depressed by a
temporary enthusiasm, will return by degrees to its proper and natural
level, and will resume those passions that seem the most adapted to
its present condition." Chapter 15
"If this Punic war was carried on without any effusion of blood, it
was owing much less to the moderation than to the weakness of the
contending prelates." Chapter 15
"It is incumbent on us diligently to remember that the kingdom of
heaven was promised to the poor in spirit, and that minds afflicted by
calamity and the contempt of mankind cheerfully listen to the divine
promise of future happiness; while, on the contrary, the fortunate are
satisfied with the possession of this world; and the wise abuse in
doubt and dispute their vain superiority of reason and knowledge."
"We stand in need of such reflections to comfort us for the loss of
some illustrious characters, which in our eyes might have seemed the
most worthy of the heavenly present. The names of Seneca, of the
elder and the younger Pliny, of Tacitus, of Plutarch, of Galen, of the
slave Epictetus, and of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, adorn the age in
which they flourished, and exalt the dignity of human natures. They
filled with glory their respective stations, either in active or
contemplative live; their excellent understandings were improved by
study; philosophy had purified their minds from the prejudices of the
popular superstition; and their days were spent in the pursuit of
truth and the practice of virtue. Yet all these sages (it is no less
an object of surprise than of concern) overlooked or rejected the
perfection of the Christian system." Chapter 15
"But how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and
philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the hand
of Omnipotence, not to their reason, but to their senses? During the
age of Christ, of his apostles, and their first disciples, the
doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies.
The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead were
raised, daemons were expelled, and the laws of Nature were frequently
suspended for the benefit of the church. But the sages of Greece and
Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary
occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations
in the moral of physical government of the world." Chapter
15
"The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear, animated
with resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are seldom in a
proper temper of mind calmly to investigate, or candidly to
appreciate, the motives of their enemies, which often escape the
impartial and discerning view even of those who are placed at a secure
distance from the flames of persecution." Chapter 16
"History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the past, for
the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that honourable
office if she condescended to plead the cause of tyrants, or to
justify the maxims of persecution." Chapter 16
"This variety of objects will suspend, for some time, the course of
the narrative; but the interruption will be censured only by those
readers who are insensible to the importance of laws and manners,
while they peruse, with eager curiosity, the transient intrigues of a
court, or the accidental event of a battle." Chapter 17
"The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial power, had
left to the vanity of the East the forms and ceremonies of
ostentatious greatness. But when they lost even the semblance of
those virtues which were derived from their ancient freedom, the
simplicity of Roman manners was insensibly corrupted by the stately
affectation of the courts of Asia. The distinctions of personal merit
and influence, so conspicuous in a republic, so feeble and obscure
under a monarchy, were abolished by the despotism of the emperors; who
substituted in their room a severe subordination of rank and office,
from the titled slaves who were seated on the steps of the throne, to
the meanest instruments of arbitrary power." Chapter 17
"Under these melancholy circumstances, an inexperienced youth was
appointed to save and to govern the provinces of Gaul, or rather, as
he expresses it himself, to exhibit the vain image of Imperial
greatness. The retired scholastic education of Julian, in which he
had been more conversant with books than with arms, with the dead than
with the living, left him in profound ignorance of the practical arts
of war and government; and when he awkwardly repeated some military
exercise which it was necessary for him to learn, he exclaimed with a
sigh, 'O Plato, Plato, what a task for a philosopher!' Yet even this
speculative philosophy, which men of business are too apt to despise,
had filled the mind of Julian with the noblest precepts and the most
shining examples; had animated him with the love of virtue, the desire
of fame, and the contempt of death. The habits of temperance
recommended in the schools are still more essential in the severe
discipline of a camp." Chapter 19
"The frequent repetition of miracles serves to provoke, where it does
not subdue, the reason of mankind...." Chapter 20
"The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and
omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of
ecclesiastical history, will probably conclude that, if the eyes of
the spectators have sometimes been deceived by fraud, the
understanding of the readers has much more frequently been insulted by
fiction. Every event, or appearance, or accident, which seems to
deviate from the ordinary course of nature has been rashly ascribed to
the immediate action of the Deity and the astonished fancy of the
multitude has sometimes given shape and colour, language and motion,
to the fleeting but uncommon meteors of the air." Chapter
20
"The awful mysteries of the Christian faith and worship were concealed
from the eyes of strangers, and even of catechumens, with an affected
secrecy, which served to excite their wonder and curiosity. But the
severe rules of discipline which the prudence of the bishops had
instituted were relaxed by the same prudence in favour of an Imperial
proselyte, whom it was so important to allure, by every gentle
condescension, into the pale of the church; and Constantine was
permitted, at least by a tacit dispensation, to enjoy most of
the privileges, before he had contracted any of the
obligations, of a Christian." Chapter 20
"An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable
without merit; and Constantine too easily believed that he should
purchase the favour of Heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense
of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the
republic." Chapter 20
"The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory
of a prince, who indulged their passions and promoted their interest.
Constantine gave them security, wealth, honours, and revenge; and
the support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred
and important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the
great charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the
Roman world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion.
But this inestimable privilege was soon violated: with the knowledge of
truth the emperor imbibed the maxims of persecution; and the sects
which dissented from the catholic church were afflicted and oppressed
by the triumph of Christianity. Constantine easily believed that the
heretics, who presumed to dispute his opinions or to oppose
his commands, were guilty of the most absurd and criminal
obstinacy; and that a seasonable application of moderate severities
might save those unhappy men from the danger of an everlasting
condemnation." Chapter 21
"The genius of Plato, informed by his own meditation or by the traditional
knowledge of the priests of Egypt, had ventured to explore the mysterious
nature of the Deity. When he had elevated his mind to the sublime
contemplation of the first self-existent, necessary cause of the universe,
the Athenian sage was incapable of conceiving how the simple
unity of his essence could admit the infinite variety of distinct and
successive ideas which compose the model of the intellectual world;
how a Being purely incorporeal could execute that perfect model,
and mould with a plastic hand the rude and independent chaos. The vain
hope of extricating himself from these difficulties, which must ever
oppress the feeble powers of the human mind, might induce Plato to
consider the divine nature under the threefold modification --- of the
first cause, the reason, or Logos, and the soul or spirit of
the universe. His poetical imagination sometimes fixed and animated
these metaphysical abstractions; the three archical or original
principles were represented in the Platonic system as three Gods,
united with each other by a mysterious and ineffable generation; and
the Logos was particularly considered under the more accessible
character of the Son of an Eternal Father, and the Creator and Governor
of the world. Such appear to have been the secret doctrines which were
cautiously whispered in the gardens of the Academy; and which, according
to the more recent disciples of Plato, could not be perfectly understood
till after an assiduous study of thirty years." Chapter 21
"Where the subject lies so far beyond our reach, the difference between
the highest and the lowest of human understandings may indeed be
calculated as infinitely small; yet the degree of weakness may perhaps
be measured by the degree of obstinacy and dogmatic confidence."
Chapter 21
"If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the most eminent
and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel order would have been
executed without hesitation by the ministers of open violence or of
specious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which
he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop,
discovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already
revived a sense of order and freedom in the Roman government."
Chapter 21
"Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty,
was successfully practised; honours, gifts, and immunities were
offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; and the
condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented
as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of
the catholic church." Chapter 21
"The retirement of Athanasius, which ended only with the life of
Constantius, was spent, for the most part, in the society of the
monks, who faithfully served him as guards, as secretaries, and
as messengers; but the importance of maintaining a more intimate
connection with the catholic party tempted him, whenever the
diligence of the pursuit was abated, to emerge from the desert, to
introduce himself into Alexandria, and to trust his person to the
discretion of his friends and adherents. His various adventures
might have furnished the subject of a very entertaining romance.
He was once secreted in a dry cistern, which he had scarcely left
before he was betrayed by the treachery a female slave; and he was
once concealed in a still more extraordinary asylum, the house of
a virgin, only twenty years of age, and who was celebrated in the
whole city for her exquisite beauty. At the hour of midnight, as
she related her story many years afterwards, she was surprised by
the appearance of the archbishop in a loose undress, who, advancing
with hasty steps, conjured her to afford him the protection which he
had been directed by a celestial vision to seek under her hospitable
roof. The pious maid accepted and preserved the sacred pledge which
was intrusted to her prudence and courage. Without imparting the
secret to any one, she instantly conducted Athanasius into her most
sacred chamber, and watched over his safety with the tenderness of
a friend and the assiduity of a servant. As long as the danger
continued, she regularly supplied him with books and provisions,
washed his feet, managed his correspondence, and dexterously
concealed from the eye of suspicion this familiar and solitary
intercourse between a saint whose character required the most
unblemished chastity, and a female whose charms might excite the
most dangerous emotions. During the six years of persecution and
exile, Athanasius repeated his visits to his fair and faithful companion;
and the formal declaration, that he saw the councils of Rimini
and Selucia, forces us to believe that he was secretly present at the
time and place of their convocation." Chapter 21
"Such disorders are the natural effects of religious tyranny;
but the rage of the Donatists was inflamed by a frenzy of a
very extraordinary kind; and which, if it really prevailed among
them in so extravagant a degree, cannot surely be paralleled
in any country or in any age. Many of these fanatics were
possessed with the horror of life, and the desire of martyrdom;
and they deemed it of little moment by what means, or by what
hands, they perished, if their conduct was sanctified by the
intention of devoting themselves to the glory of the true faith,
and the hope of eternal happiness. Sometimes they rudely
disturbed the festivals, and profaned the temples of Paganism,
with the design of exciting the most zealous of the idolaters
to revenge the insulted honour of their gods. They sometimes
forced their way into the courts of justice, and compelled the
affrighted judge to give orders for their immediate execution.
They frequently stopped travelers on the public highways, and
obliged them to inflict the stroke of martyrdom, by the promise
of a reward if they consented, and by the threat of instant
death if they refused to grant so very singular a favor. When
they were disappointed of every other resource, they announced
the day on which, in the presence of their friends and brethren,
they should cast themselves headlong from some lofty rock;
and many precipices were shown which had acquired fame by
the number of religious suicides. In the actions of these desperate
enthusiasts, who were admired by one party as the martyrs of God,
and abhorred by the other as the victims of Satan, an impartial
philosopher may discover the influence and the last abuse of
that inflexible spirit which was originally derived from the
character and principals of the Jewish nation." Chapter 21
"While the Romans languished under the ignominious tyranny
of eunuchs and bishops, the praises of Julian were repeated
with transport in every part of the empire, except in the palace
of Constantius. The barbarians of Germany had felt, and still
dreaded, the arms of the young Caesar; his soldiers were the
companions of his victory; the grateful provincials enjoyed the
blessings of his reign; but the favourites, who had opposed his
elevation, were offended by his virtues; and they justly
considered the friend of the people as the enemy of the court.
As long as the fame of Julian was doubtful, the buffoons of the
palace, who were skilled in the language of satire, tried the
efficacy of those arts which they had so often practised with
success. They easily discovered that his simplicity was not
exempt from affectation: the ridiculous epithets of an hairy
savage, of an ape invested with the purple, were applied to
the dress and person of the philosophic warrior; and his modest
despatches were stigmatised as the vain and elaborate fictions
of a loquacious Greek, a speculative soldier, who had studied
the art of war amidst the groves of the Academy. The voice
of malicious folly was at length silenced by the shouts of
victory; the conqueror of the Franks and Alemanni could no
longer be painted as an object of contempt; and the monarch
himself was meanly ambitious of stealing from his lieutenant
the honourable reward of his labours. In the letters crowned
with laurel, which, according to ancient custom, were
addressed to the provinces, the name of Julian was omitted.
"Constantius had made his dispositions in person; he
had signalised his valour in the foremost ranks; his
military conduct had secured the victory; and the captive
king of the barbarians was presented to him on the
field of battle," from which he was at that time distant
above forty days' journey. So extravagant a fable was
incapable, however, of deceiving the public credulity, or
even of satisfying the pride of the emperor himself. Secretly
conscious that the applause and favour or the Romans
accompanied the rising fortunes of Julian, his discontented
mind was prepared to receive the subtle poison of those
artful sycophants who coloured their mischievous designs
with the fairest appearances of truth and candour. Instead
of depreciating the merits of Julian, they acknowledged,
and even exaggerated, his popular fame, superior talents,
and important services. But they darkly insinuated that
the virtues of the Caesar might instantly be converted into
the most dangerous crimes, if the inconstant multitude
should prefer their inclinations to their duty; or if the
general of a victorious army should be tempted from his
allegiance by the hopes of revenge and independent greatness.
The personal fears of Constantius were interpreted by his
council as a laudable anxiety for the public safety; whilst
in private, and perhaps in his own breast, he disguised,
under the less odious appellation of fear, the sentiments
of hatred and envy which he had secretly conceived for the
inimitable virtues of Julian." Chapter 22
"Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages
of action and retirement; but the elevation of his birth
and the accidents of his life never allowed him the freedom
of choice. He might perhaps sincerely have preferred the
groves of the Academy and the society of Athens; but he was
constrained, at first by the will, and afterwards by the
injustice of Constantius, to expose his person and fame to
the dangers of Imperial greatness; and to make himself
accountable to the world and to posterity for the happiness
of millions. Julian recollected with terror the observation
of his master Plato, that the government of our flocks and
herds is always committed to beings of a superior species;
and that the conduct of nations requires and deserves the
celestial powers of the Gods or of the Genii. From this
principle he justly concluded that the man who presumes
to reign should aspire to the perfection of the divine nature;
that he should purify his soul from her mortal and terrestrial
part; that he should extinguish his appetites, enlighten his
understanding, regulate his passions, and subdue the wild beast
which, according to the lively metaphor of Aristotle, seldom
fails to ascend the throne of a despot. The throne of Julian,
which the death of Constantius fixed on an independent basis,
was the seat of reason, of virtue, and perhaps of vanity.
He despised the honours, renounced the pleasures, and discharged
with incessant diligence the duties of his exalted station:
and there were few among his subjects who would have consented
to relieve him from the weight of the diadem, had they been
obliged to submit their time and their actions to the rigorous
laws which their philosophic emperor imposed on himself One
of his most intimate friends, who had often shared the frugal
simplicity of his table, has remarked that his light and
sparing diet (which was usually of the vegetable kind) left
his mind and body always free and active for the various and
important business of an author, a pontiff, a magistrate, a
general, and a prince. In one and the same day he give audience
to several ambassadors, and wrote or dictated a great number of
letters to his generals, his civil magistrates, his private
friends, and the different cities of his dominions. He listened
to the memorials which had been received, considered the subject
of the petitions, and signified his intentions more rapidly than
they could be taken in shorthand by the diligence of his
secretaries. He possessed such flexibility of thought, and such
firmness of attention, that he could employ his hand to write,
his ear to listen, and his voice to dictate; and pursue at once
three several trains of ideas without hesitation, and without error.
While his ministers reposed, the prince flew with agility from one
labour to another; and, after a hasty dinner, retired into his
library till the public business which he had appointed for the
evening summoned him to interrupt the prosecution of his studies.
The supper of the emperor was still less substantial than the
former meal; his sleep was never clouded by the fumes of
indigestion; and, except in the short interval of a marriage
which was the effect of policy rather than love, the chaste
Julian never shared his bed with a female companion. He was
soon awakened by the entrance of fresh secretaries, who had
slept the preceding day; and his servants were obliged to wait
alternately, while their indefatigable master allowed himself
scarcely any other refreshment than the change of occupations.
The predecessors of Julian, his uncle, his brother, and his
cousin, indulged their puerile taste for the games of the
Circus, under the specious pretence of complying with the
inclinations of the people; and they frequently remained the
greatest part of the day as idle spectators, and as a part
of the splendid spectacle, till the ordinary round of twenty-four
races was completely finished. On solemn festivals, Julian, who
felt and professed an unfashionable dislike to these frivolous
amusements, condescended to appear in the Circus; and, after
bestowing a careless glance on five or six of the races, he
hastily withdrew with the impatience of a philosopher, who
considered every moment as lost that was not devoted to the
advantage of the public or the improvement of his own mind.
By this avarice of time he seemed to protract the short duration
of his reign; and, if the dates were less securely ascertained,
we should refuse to believe that only sixteen months elapsed
between the death of Constantius and the departure of his
successor for the Persian war. The actions of Julian can
only be preserved by the care of the historian; but the portion
of his voluminous writings which is still extant remains as a
monument of the application, as well as of the genius, of the
emperor. The Misopogon, the Caesars, several of his orations,
and his elaborate work against the Christian religion, were
composed in the long nights of the two winters, the former of
which he passed at Constantinople, and the later at Antioch.
"The reformation of the Imperial court was one of the first
and most necessary acts of the government of Julian. Soon
after his entrance into the palace of Constantinople he had
occasion for the service of a barber. An officer, magnificently
dressed, immediately presented himself. "It is a barber,"
exclaimed the prince, with affected surprise, "that I want,
and not a receiver-general of the finances." He questioned
the man concerning the profits of his employment, and was
informed that, besides a large salary and some valuable
perquisites, he enjoyed a daily allowance for twenty servants
and as many horses. A thousand barbers, a thousand cupbearers,
a thousand cooks, were distributed in the several offices of
luxury; and the number of eunuchs could be compared only with
the insects of a summer's day. The monarch who resigned to
his subjects the superiority of merit and virtue was
distinguished by the oppressive magnificence of his dress,
his table, his buildings, and his train. The stately
palaces erected by Constantine and his sons were decorated
with many-coloured marbles and ornaments of massy gold.
The most exquisite dainties were procured to gratify their
pride rather than their taste; birds of the most distant
climates, fish from the most remote seas, fruits out of
their natural season, winter roses, and summer snows. The
domestic crowd of the palace surpassed the expense of the
legions; yet the smallest part of this costly multitude was
subservient to the use, or even to the splendour, of the throne.
The monarch was disgraced, and the people was injured, by the
creation and sale of an infinite number of obscure and even
titular employments; and the most worthless of mankind might
purchase the privilege of being maintained, without the
necessity of labour, from the public revenue. The waste of
an enormous household, the increase of fees and perquisites,
which were soon claimed as a lawful debt, and the bribes which
they extorted from those who feared their enmity or solicited
their favour, suddenly enriched these haughty menials. They
abused their fortune, without considering their past or their
future condition; and their rapine and venality could be
equalled only by the extravagance of their dissipations.
Their silken robes were embroidered with gold, their tables
were served with delicacy and profusion; the houses which
they built for their own use would have covered the farm of
an ancient consul; and the most honourable citizens were
obliged to dismount from their horses and respectfully to
salute an eunuch whom they met on the public highway. The
luxury of the palace excited the contempt and indignation
of Julian, who usually slept on the ground, who yielded
with reluctance to the indispensable calls of nature,
and who placed his vanity not in emulating, but in
despising the pomp of royalty." Chapter 22
"Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom.
From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and
heroes; his live and fortunes had depended on the caprice
of a tyrant; and, when he ascended the throne, his pride was
sometimes mortified by the relfection that the slaves who would
not dare to censure his defects were not worthy to applaud his
virtues. He sincerely abhorred the system of oriental despotism
which Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of four score
years, had established in the empire. A motive of superstition
prevented the execution of the design which julian had frequently
meditated, of relieving his head from the weight of a costly
diadem; but he absolutely refused the title of Dominus
or Lord, a word which was grown so familiar to the ears
of the Romans, that they no longer remembered its servile and
humiliating origin." Chapter 22
"During the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently or designedly,
performed the manumission of a slave in the presence of the consul.
The moment he was reminded that he had trespassed on the jurisdiction
of another magistrate, he condemned himself to pay a fine of
ten pounds of gold, and embraced this public occasion of declaring to
the world that he was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens,
to the laws, and even to the forms, of the republic." Chapter
22
"The generality of princes, if they were stripped of their purple
and cast naked into the world, would immediately sink to the
lowest rank of society, without a hope of emerging from their
obscurity. But the personal merit of Julian was, in some measure,
independent of his fortune. Whatever had been his choice of life,
by the force of intrepid courage, lively wit, and intense
application, he would have obtained, or at least he would
have deserved, the highest honours of his profession, and Julian
might have raised himself to the rank of minister or general
of the state in which he was born a private citizen. If the
jealous caprice of power had disappointed his expectations; if
he had prudently declined the paths of greatness, the employment
of the same talents in studious solitude would have placed beyond
the reach of kings his present happiness and his immortal fame.
When we inspect with minute, or perhaps malevolent, attention
the portrait of Julian, something seems wanting to the grace and
perfection of the whole figure. His genius was less powerful
and sublime than that of Caesar, nor did he possess the consummate
prudence of Augustus. The virtues of Trajan appear more steady
and natural, and the philosophy of Marcus is more simple and
consistent. Yet Julian sustained adversity with firmness, and prosperity
with moderation. After an interval of one hundred and twenty years
from the death of Alexander Severus, the Romans beheld an emperor
who made no distinction between his duties and his pleasures,
who laboured to relieve the distress and to revive the spirit of
his subjects, and who endeavoured always to connect authority
with merit, and happiness with virtue. Even faction, and religious
faction, was constrained to acknowledge the superiority of his
genius in peace as well as in war, and to confess, with a sigh,
that the apostate Julian was a lover of his country, and that he
deserved the empire of the world." Chapter 22
"Instructed by history and reflection, Julian was persuaded that,
if the diseases of the body may sometimes be cured by salutary
violence, neither steel nor fire can eradicate the erroneous
opinions of the mind." Chapter 23
"Actuated by these motives, and apprehensive of disturbing the repose
of an unsettled reign, Julian surprised the world by an edict which
was not unworthy of a statesman or a philosopher. He extended
to all the inhabitants of the Roman world the benefits of a free
and equal toleration; and the only hardship which he inflicted on the
Christians was to deprive them of the power of tormenting their
fellow-subjects, whom they stigmatised with the odious titles of
idolaters and heretics." Chapter 23
"It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have
rendered it desirable...." Chapter 23
"In a solemn edict, filled with the strongest assurances of that
paternalism which princes so often express, and so seldom feel, the
emperor Honorius promulgated his intention of convening an annual
assembly of the seven provinces: a name peculiarly appropriated to
Aquitain and the ancient Narbonnese, which had long since exchanged
their Celtic rudeness for the useful and elegant arts of Italy. Arles,
the seat of government and commerce, was appointed for the place of
the assembly, which regularly continued twenty-eight days, from the
fifteenth of August to the thirteenth of September of every year. It
consisted of the Praetorian praefect of the Gauls; of seven provincial
governors, one consular, and six presidents; of the magistrates, and
perhaps the bishops, of about sixty cities; and of a competent, though
indefinite, number of the most honourable and opulent possessors of
land, who might justly be considered as the representatives of their
country. They were empowered to interpret and communicate the laws of
their sovereign; to expose the grievances and wishes of their
constituents; to moderate the excessive or unequal weight of taxes;
and to deliberate on every subject of local or national importance
that could tend to the restoration of the peace and prosperity of the
seven provinces. If such an institution, which gave the people an
interest in their own government, had been universally established by
Trajan or the Antonines, the seeds of public wisdom and virtue might
have cherished and propagated in the empire of Rome. The privileges of
the subject would have secured the throne of the monarch; the abuses
of an arbitrary administration might have been prevented, in some
degree, or corrected, by the interposition of these representative
assemblies; and the country would have been defended against a foreign
enemy by the arms of natives and freemen. Under the mild and generous
influence of liberty, the Roman empire might have remained invincible
and immortal; or if its excessive magnitude, and the instability of
human affairs, had opposed such perpetual continuance, its vital and
constituent members might have separately preserved their vigour and
independence. But in the decline of the empire, when every principle
of health and life had been exhausted, the tardy application of this
partial remedy was incapable of producing any important or salutary
effects." Chapter 31
"It may therefore be of some use to borrow the experience of the same
Abdalrahman, whose magnificence has perhaps excited our admiration and
envy, and to transcribe an authentic memorial which was found in the
closet of the deceased caliph. 'I have now reigned above fifty years
in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies,
and respected by my allies. Riches and honours, power and pleasure,
have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have
been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently
numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to
my lot: they amount to FOURTEEN: --- O man! place not thy confidence
in this present world!' " Chapter 52
footnote: Cardonne, tom. i. p. 329, 330. This confession,
the complaints of Solomon of the vanity of this world (read Prior's
verbose but eloquent poem), and the happy ten days of the emperor
Seghed (Rambler, No. 204, 205), will be triumphantly quoted by the
detractors of human life. Their expectations are commonly immoderate,
their estimates are seldom impartial. If I may speak of myself (the
only person of whom I can speak with certainty), my happy hours
have far exceeded and far exceed, the scanty numbers of the caliph of
Spain; and I shall not scruple to add, that many of them are due to
the pleasing labour of the present composition.
^z = Mark Zimmermann