2006-01-05 How the mighty fell

This abridged edition of Decline and Fall, published by Wordsworth Editions, includes 28 of Gibbon's original 71 chapters. It starts with an introduction by Antony Lentin and Brian Norman of the Open University. Then there's a very small and not very comprehensive glossary - just enough to warn the reader that Gibbon uses certain words differently to the way we normally understand them. As we might expect, language evolves and this book was published over 220 years ago, so the meanings of some words have undergone subtle changes since Gibbon was writing and a modern desk dictionary may not help. There's a chronological list of Roman emperors starting with Augustus in Rome in 27 BC and ending with the demise of Constantine XI in Constantinople in 1453. The list of chapter is set out, very usefully, with a brief description of the contents of each chapter. This is especially helpful as it lists all 71 chapters - and there is no index! In the place of each missing chapter, there is a summary of the chapter. There are 16 very rough maps distributed through the book, showing how boundaries were changing and religious influences were spreading.

I found it a variable read. All of what is included in this volume is fascinating and left me wanting to know more. The variability relates to the ease of reading. Gibbon's writing style is not easy and some of it is vague, obscure and ambiguous. I often struggled to understand his meaning and in some cases had to give up and move on - this despite having the entire Oxford English Dictionary to refer to for clarification. Even so, I've mostly enjoyed the book, which has made a strong impression on me. Gibbon is astute and entertaining and a generator of frequent smiles. This compensated for the more difficult patches. I would not attempt the whole, original, unabridged version because it's a huge time investment and the "language barrier" would cause frustration.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is certainly a fantastic achievement and I would recommend it to any determined and scholarly person who is deeply interested in this area of history. However, for interested non-students (like me) I would suggest you do what I'm about to do, that is, look for something similar written in more accessible language - what is usually referred to these days as "Plain English".