THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Volumes I –VI by Edward Gibbon

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Volumes I –VI  by Edward Gibbon

Narrated by David Timson

     Expand Your Vocabulary in Just 146 hours

Since all six volumes are of a piece I am reviewing it as such.  This is a massive work and I will not attempt to extol all its virtues here. I have always had this on my reading list but knew that I would never devote months of reading time to tackling this history. This is a prime example of the superiority of the audio format in facilitating the assimilation of such lengthy books.

Here are my general impressions:

History is primarily an account of the leaders and ruling class. The vast unwashed masses pass through the halls of recorded history in abject silence.

The Roman Empire persisted for a very long time in many different forms. It is beyond my attention span to try to hold the entire span in my head. I admire Edward Gibbon for his ability to seemingly relate all these different eras with equal perspicuity. I will require a second pass through to more fully grasp

The influence of Christianity is the primary cause for the decline of the Roman Empire. One cannot hope to understand the underlying causes of the Roman Empire’s downfall without having a firm grasp of the doctrinal battles within the church. In order to make his reasoning clear to the listener Gibbon is careful to explain the fine points of Christian doctrine. He expounds, at length, the Arian heresy and its political implications. And, in a related episode, he relates the origins and expanse of the Mohammadan religion because of its impact on the Romans.

This is not merely a narrative history. Gibbon writes with high style and great aplomb. His humor is witty and droll and quite pervasive. The byzantine convolutions of this history are made beautiful by his flowing prose. This is a work of literature.

Either the common vocabulary of people in the eighteenth century was higher than that of people today or Gibbon has an incredible mastery of the English language, uncommon in any time. I prefer the latter.

David Timson has a wonderful sonorous voice; one quite suitable to hours of critical listening. His enunciation is crisp and his inflection perfectly suited to delivering Gibbon’s frequent backhanded compliments.

FICTIONADOS EYES ONLY:

Edward Gibbon confirms the proper grammatical use of the article “an” before words beginning with the letter “h” in contrast to the usual rule of reserving the use of that article for words beginning with vowel sounds.

The racial prejudices of the late eighteenth century seem bigoted and biased to our twenty-first century sensibilities.  This prejudice is not pervasive in the book but when it does appear it carries with it quite a shock and a shake of the head.

FICTIONADOS EARS ONLY RECOMMENDED LISTENING:

This huge mangy tome is in excess of 146 hours long. If this seems an impossibly long task consider, at least, listening to the following selected chapters. These will give you a flavor of the entire work and inform you on important elements of Roman history and, incidentally, Christian doctrine.  Note the chapter sub-titles are Gibbon’s own.

Vol I

Chapter 15 (19:35:05) The Progress of the Christian Religion and the Sentiments, Manners, Numbers and Condition of the Primitive Christians

Vol II

Chapter 21 (11:00:28) Persecution of heresy, the Schism of the Donatists, the Arian Controversy, Athanasius, Distracted state of the Empire and the church under Constantine and his sons, Toleration of Paganism.

Vol V

Chapter 50 (9:35:06) Description of Arabia and its Inhabitants; Birth, Character and Doctrine of Mohammed, He Preaches at Mecca, Flies to Modina, Propagates his Religion by the Sword; Voluntary or Reluctant Submission of the Arabs; His Death and Successors; The Claims and Fortunes of Ali and His Descendants

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

This work is written at the graduate level. Contemporary writers—excepting perhaps Gene Wolfe—seldom delve into this level of sesquipedalian endeavor. The following words are used repeatedly throughout the book. So if you master them up front the text will be ever so much more instructive. If you have recently synched your FEALD you will have all these, and more, in the bookmarks.

Panegyric—formal or elaborate praise—(PAN-e-GY-rick)

Obsequious—deferential, fawning—(ob-SEEK-kwi-us)

Peroration—long speech—(PEAR-or-A-shun)

Parricide—murder of a close relative—(PEAR-i-side)

Pusillanimous—cowardly, timid—(PU-sil-AN-i-mus)

Perfidy— treachery—(per-FID-e)

Imperious—overbearing, haughty—(im-PEAR-e-us)

Bon mot—generous gift—(BON-moe)

Extirpate—forcefully remove—(X-stir-pate)

Invidious—likely to arouse resentment or anger—(in-VID-e-us)

Intestine—internal—(in-TEST-tine)

Pernicious—very bad—(per-NIH-shis)

Palliate—alleviate, make less severe—(PALL-e-ate)

Expatiate—explain at length—(ex-PAY-she-ate)

Sacerdotal—priestly—(SAS-er-DOTE-el)

Homoousian—same essence and nature (Vol II, 11:59:15) (HO-mo-ou-see-an)

Homoiousian—similar but not identical essence or nature—(HO-mo-E-ou-see-an)

Asservations—emphatic assertions (ASS-er-VAY-shuns)—assertions

Tesserarian art—dice playing, backgammon—a tesseract is a cube—(TESS-er-act)

Inauspicious—unfavorable, boding ill—(IN-aus-PISH-us)

Invective—violent denunciation—(in-VECT-ive)

Filioque Clause— “and the Son” (FILL-lee-AH-quay)

Halcyon days—rare and bloodless week of repose (HAL-see-on)