Sunday, April 8, 2012

Reasons for the Fall of the Roman Empire - Gibbon

Gibbon summarized his feelings on the fall of the Empire in a document titled General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West. This essay not only addresses the fall of Rome, but relates that history to the future of modern society. We’ll ignore the latter in this post and focus on the former.

Below are some excerpts from the document, intended to summarize Gibbon’s conclusions.
“The rise of a city, which swelled into an empire, may deserve, as a singular prodigy, the reflection of a philosophic mind. But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. …The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigor of the military government was relaxed and finally dissolved by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of barbarians.
The decay of Rome has been frequently ascribed to the translation of the seat of empire but this history has already shown that the powers of Government were divided rather than removed. …This dangerous novelty impaired the strength and fomented the vices of a double reign: the instruments of an oppressive and arbitrary system were multiplied; and a vain emulation of luxury, not of merit, was introduced and supported between the degenerate successors of Theodosius. Extreme distress, which unites the virtue of a free people, embitters the factions of a declining monarchy. The hostile favorites of Arcadius and Honorius betrayed the republic to its common enemies; and the Byzantine court beheld with indifference, perhaps with pleasure, the disgrace of Rome, the misfortunes of Italy, and the loss of the West.

As the happiness of a future life is the great object of religion, we may hear without surprise or scandal that the introduction, or at least the abuse of Christianity, had some influence on the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity (cowardliness); the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the last remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister: a large portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; and the soldiers' pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both sexes who could only plead the merits of abstinence and chastity. Faith, zeal, curiosity, and more earthly passions of malice and ambition, kindled the flame of theological discord; the church, and even the state, were distracted by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody and always implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to synods; the Roman world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny; and the persecuted sects became the secret enemies of their country.
…Religious precepts are easily obeyed which indulge and sanctify the natural inclinations of their votaries; but the pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.”
At this point, Gibbon ponders whether the political systems of his time could fall prey to the same problems that doomed the empire. Answering his own question, he describes three differences between Rome and the modern age.
“I. The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their dangers and the number of their enemies. The flying tribes who yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the spirit of conquest; the endless column of barbarians pressed on the Roman empire with accumulated weight; and, if the foremost were destroyed, the vacant space was instantly replenished by new assailants.
II. The empire of Rome was firmly established by the singular and perfect coalition of its members. The subject nations, resigning the hope and even the wish of independence, embraced the character of Roman citizens; and the provinces of the West were reluctantly torn by the barbarians from the bosom of their mother country. But this union was purchased by the loss of national freedom and military spirit; and the servile provinces, destitute of life and motion, expected their safety from the mercenary troops and governors who were directed by the orders of a distant court. The happiness of an hundred millions depended on the persona merit of one or two men, perhaps children, whose minds were corrupted by education, luxury, and despotic power. The deepest wounds were inflicted on the empire during the minorities of the sons and grandsons of Theodosius; and, after those incapable princes seemed to attain the age of manhood, they abandoned the church to the bishops, the state to the eunuchs, and the provinces to the barbarians.
III. Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue fortify the strength and courage of barbarians. In every age they have oppressed the polite and peaceful nations of China, India, and Persia, who neglected, and still neglect, to counter-balance these natural powers by the resources of military art. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners: and the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors armed and instructed, for the ruin of the empire, the rude valour of the barbarian mercenaries.”
I have no argument with these points. As we have discussed in recent posts, the emperors of the late empire were weak and they employed German commanders and barbarian soldiers.

The role of Christianity is a different matter, however, requiring us to look further at Gibbon’s statements about its role in the empire. He wrote seven chapters about the Christians. Two stand out as the most controversial.

Volume 1 Chapter 15 – Progress of the Christian Religion
Volume 1 Chapter 16 -  Conduct Toward the Christians, from Nero to Constantine

In chapter 15, Gibbon gives his opinion on the reasons for the triumph of Christianity.

“To this inquiry, an obvious but satisfactory answer may be returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author.”

Gibbon asserts that Christianity developed out of Judaism by co-opting the Old Testament, defining a new covenant to replace Jewish law, and attacking the Jews. The latter was an artifact of the competition between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians, before the latter were destroyed in the ashes of Jerusalem.

Chapter 16 has been criticized for its bias and uneven approach. In spite of the chapter’s shortcomings, Gibbon's conclusions are thought provoking. He speculates about the reasons why the antiquarian tolerance for religious diversity was suddenly suspended in the case of the Christians. Gibbon characterizes the Jews and Christians as similar in behavior – both seeking social isolation and refusing to pay homage to their sovereign - yet the Jews were not persecuted. Why? His answer follows:

“The difference between them is simple and obvious; but, according to the sentiments of antiquity, it was of the highest importance.  The Jews were a nation; the Christians were a sect: and if it was natural for every community to respect the sacred institutions of their neighbors, it was incumbent on them to persevere in those of their ancestors.

By embracing the faith of the gospel, the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence.  They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as sacred.” 

The development of Christianity and its effect on the empire is a topic we must pursue further in order to place it in the correct context. Once we have that established, we can decide for ourselves whether Gibbon was correct. 

3 comments:

marcos toledo said...

The problem is that Constantine and his precessors and successors rest the foundation of the empire on to give a modern spin cult of personality. Hence worship of the Emperor with no ceditable backup other than force of arms. If the Romans had done what the Chin had done create a universal written language instead they would avoided the problems of the use of religious cults be they Christian or Islamic monotheism and they would have truly united Europe in the long run.

sftommy said...

I had to pause at end of Volume 3 of Gibbons:

"We may therefore acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion, that every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race."

bojo2112jon said...
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