"[A]s 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, page 6
Edward Gibbons magnus opus, almost fifteen years in the making, contains 1.5 million words with
8,000 footnotes. Published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, it has long been regarded as one
of the true history classics of the Western world, telling as it does the long and involved story
of the fall of the Roman Empire. Readers often get lost in its world, some not returning too
readily. Historians see parallels with other empires that have overreached themselves. Christians
find his take on their Church's history controversial.
