This boxed set of Volumes 4-6 ("The Eastern Empire") completes the Everyman set. Volumes 1-3 ("The Western Empire") were published in 1993. Even after 200 years, Gibbon's book is still an authoritative work on Roman history.

2008-01-15 A treasure of wisdom and foresight

After more than a year, I finally managed to read the final 3 volumes of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This is one of the few books that have really changed my views not just on the Roman Empire, but on human nature and everything really. It is such a convincing argument regarding how transient and delicate every human entreprise really is. I could not find any other book that was so useful to me to understand what is going on on today's world. We are also in the middle of a great transformation which might turn out for the worse regarding everything from the economy to the environment, and the cautionary tale of how the alliance of religious zeal and increased tyranny did the Romans weaker to withstand the push of the barbarians is fully aplicable to today. I enjoyed the rhythm of the prose, the wonderful descriptions of the sieges and battles, the unforgettable characters like Julian, Hypatia, Constantine, Athanasius, Teodoric, Belisarius, Mohamed, John II, Constantine XI, Bajacet or Cola di Rienzi, just to name a few. This is very serious reading but it is far more enjoyable and easier than I thought taking into account what I have read about this book before starting it.
The last thing that i can say is: more than 4000 pages and I would have enjoyed more.