The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

By Edward Gibbon. A brief collection of excerpts and notes:

Gibbon did not like Oxford. The scholars there were steeped in "port and prejudice." They remembered only that they had a salary and not that they had a duty.

"Such were the arts of war by which the Roman emperors defended their extensive conquests, and preserved a military spirit, at a time when every other virtue was oppressed by luxury and despotism."

Valor without skill is an imperfect virtue.

The modes of worship that 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."

"The aspiring genius of Rome sacrifice vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honorable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own wheresoever they were found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or Barbarians."

"It is a just though trite observation that victorious Rome was herself subdued by the arts of Greece."

"In their dress, their table, their houses, and their furniture, the favorites of fortune united every refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of splendor, whatever could soothe their pride or gratify their sensuality... The most remote countries of the ancient world were ransacked to provide the pomp and delicacy of Rome."

"It was 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, 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. Their personal valor remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honor, the presence of danger, and the habit of command... The posterity of their boldest leaders was contented with the rank of citizens and subjects... The name of Poet was almost forgotten; that of Orator was usurped by the sophists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste."

"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 the enterprises of an aspiring prince."

"It was dangerous to trust the sincerity of Augustus; to seem to distrust it was still more dangerous."

"The names and forms of the ancient administration were preserved by Augustus with the most anxious care... It was on the dignity of the senate that Augustus and his successors founded their new empire... 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."

"The [successful] emperors...disdained the pomp and ceremony which might offend their countrymen but could add nothing to their real power."

"The tender respect of Augustus for a free constitution which he had destroyed can only be explained by an attentive consideration of the character of that subtle tyrant. A cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly disposition prompted him at the age of nineteen to assume the mask of hypocrisy, which he never afterwards laid aside. His virtues, and even his vices, were artificial... [He] 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."

"The emperor was elected by the authority of the senate, and the consent of the soldiers."

"Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submission of the multitude... The ardor of contention, the pride of victory, the despair of success, the memory of past injuries, and the fear of future dangers, all contribute to inflame the mind, and to silence the voice of pity."

"Such formidable servants are always necessary but often fatal tot he throne of despotism. By thus introducing the Praetorian guards as it were into the palace and the senate, the emperors taught them to perceive their own strength, and the weakness of the civil government; to view the vices of their masters with familiar contempt, and to lay aside that reverential awe which distance only, and mystery, can preserve towards an imaginary power."

"Severus...condescended slightly to lament that, to be mild, it was necessary that he should first be cruel... The contemporaries of Severus in the enjoyment of the peace and glory of his reign forgave the cruelties by which it had been introduced. Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims and example, justly considered him as the principal author of the decline of the Roman empire."

"The ascent to greatness, however steep and dangerous, may entertain an active spirit with the consciousness and exercise of its own powers: but the possession of a throne could never yet afford a lasting satisfaction to an ambitious mind."

"The fond hopes of the father and of the Roman world were soon disappointed by these vain youths, who displayed the indolent security of hereditary princes, and a presumption that fortune would supply the place of merit and application."

"Military order (modesty in peace and service in war) is best secured by an honorable poverty."

"The grave senators confessed with a sigh that, after having long experienced the stern tyranny of their own countrymen, Rome was at length humbled beneath the effeminate luxury of Oriental despotism."