Gibbon's The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
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Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis. -- Part VI.
General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West.
The Greeks, after their country had been reduced into a province,
imputed the triumphs of Rome, not to the merit, but to the fortune, of
the republic. The inconstant goddess, who so blindly distributes and
resumes her favors, had now consented (such was the language of envious
flattery) to resign her wings, to descend from her globe, and to fix her
firm and immutable throne on the banks of the Tyber. A wiser Greek, who
has composed, with a philosophic spirit, the memorable history of his
own times, deprived his countrymen of this vain and delusive comfort, by
opening to their view the deep foundations of the greatness of Rome. The
fidelity of the citizens to each other, and to the state, was confirmed
by the habits of education, and the prejudices of religion. Honor, as
well as virtue, was the principle of the republic; the ambitious
citizens labored to deserve the solemn glories of a triumph; and the
ardor of the Roman youth was kindled into active emulation, as often as
they beheld the domestic images of their ancestors. The temperate
struggles of the patricians and plebeians had finally established the
firm and equal balance of the constitution; which united the freedom of
popular assemblies, with the authority and wisdom of a senate, and the
executive powers of a regal magistrate. When the consul displayed the
standard of the republic, each citizen bound himself, by the obligation
of an oath, to draw his sword in the cause of his country, till he had
discharged the sacred duty by a military service of ten years. This wise
institution continually poured into the field the rising generations of
freemen and soldiers; and their numbers were reënforced by the warlike
and populous states of Italy, who, after a brave resistance, had yielded
to the valor and embraced the alliance, of the Romans. The sage
historian, who excited the virtue of the younger Scipio, and beheld the
ruin of Carthage, has accurately described their military system; their
levies, arms, exercises, subordination, marches, encampments; and the
invincible legion, superior in active strength to the Macedonian phalanx
of Philip and Alexander. From these institutions of peace and war
Polybius has deduced the spirit and success of a people, incapable of
fear, and impatient of repose. The ambitious design of conquest, which
might have been defeated by the seasonable conspiracy of mankind, was
attempted and achieved; and the perpetual violation of justice was
maintained by the political virtues of prudence and courage. The arms of
the republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war,
advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and
the Ocean; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve
to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by
the ironmonarchy of Rome.
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 story of its ruin is simple and
obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we
should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. 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. The throne of
Constantinople was erected in the East; while the West was still
possessed by a series of emperors who held their residence in Italy, and
claimed their equal inheritance of the legions and provinces. 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, imbitters 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. Under the
succeeding reigns, the alliance of the two empires was restored; but the
aid of the Oriental Romans was tardy, doubtful, and ineffectual; and the
national schism of the Greeks and Latins was enlarged by the perpetual
difference of language and manners, of interests, and even of religion.
Yet the salutary event approved in some measure the judgment of
Constantine. During a long period of decay, his impregnable city
repelled the victorious armies of Barbarians, protected the wealth of
Asia, and commanded, both in peace and war, the important straits which
connect the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas. The foundation of
Constantinople more essentially contributed to the preservation of the
East, than to the ruin 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: 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 the 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. Yet
party spirit, however pernicious or absurd, is a principle of union as
well as of dissension. The bishops, from eighteen hundred pulpits,
inculcated the duty of passive obedience to a lawful and orthodox
sovereign; their frequent assemblies, and perpetual correspondence,
maintained the communion of distant churches; and the benevolent temper
of the gospel was strengthened, though confined, by the spiritual
alliance of the Catholics. The sacred indolence of the monks was
devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if superstition
had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices would have tempted the
unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard of the
republic. 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.
This awful revolution may be usefully applied to the instruction of the
present age. It is the duty of a patriot to prefer and promote the
exclusive interest and glory of his native country: but a philosopher
may be permitted to enlarge his views, and to consider Europe as one
great republic whose various inhabitants have obtained almost the same
level of politeness and cultivation. The balance of power will continue
to fluctuate, and the prosperity of our own, or the neighboring
kingdoms, may be alternately exalted or depressed; but these partial
events cannot essentially injure our general state of happiness, the
system of arts, and laws, and manners, which so advantageously
distinguish, above the rest of mankind, the Europeans and their
colonies. The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of
civilized society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether
Europe is still threatened with a repetition of those calamities, which
formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of Rome. Perhaps the same
reflections will illustrate the fall of that mighty empire, and explain
the probable causes of our actual security.
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The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their danger, and the
number of their enemies. Beyond the Rhine and Danube, the Northern
countries of Europe and Asia were filled with innumerable tribes of
hunters and shepherds, poor, voracious, and turbulent; bold in arms, and
impatient to ravish the fruits of industry. The Barbarian world was
agitated by the rapid impulse of war; and the peace of Gaul or Italy was
shaken by the distant revolutions of China. The Huns, who fled before a
victorious enemy, directed their march towards the West; and the torrent
was swelled by the gradual accession of captives and allies. 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. Such formidable
emigrations can no longer issue from the North; and the long repose,
which has been imputed to the decrease of population, is the happy
consequence of the progress of arts and agriculture. Instead of some
rude villages, thinly scattered among its woods and morasses, Germany
now produces a list of two thousand three hundred walled towns: the
Christian kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, have been
successively established; and the Hanse merchants, with the Teutonic
knights, have extended their colonies along the coast of the Baltic, as
far as the Gulf of Finland. From the Gulf of Finland to the Eastern
Ocean, Russia now assumes the form of a powerful and civilized empire.
The plough, the loom, and the forge, are introduced on the banks of the
Volga, the Oby, and the Lena; and the fiercest of the Tartar hordes have
been taught to tremble and obey. The reign of independent Barbarism is
now contracted to a narrow span; and the remnant of Calmucks or Uzbecks,
whose forces may be almost numbered, cannot seriously excite the
apprehensions of the great republic of Europe. Yet this apparent
security should not tempt us to forget, that new enemies, and unknown
dangers, may possibly arise from some obscure people, scarcely visible
in the map of the world, The Arabs or Saracens, who spread their
conquests from India to Spain, had languished in poverty and contempt,
till Mahomet breathed into those savage bodies the soul of enthusiasm.
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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 a hundred millions depended
on the personal 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. Europe is
now divided into twelve powerful, though unequal kingdoms, three
respectable commonwealths, and a variety of smaller, though independent,
states: the chances of royal and ministerial talents are multiplied, at
least, with the number of its rulers; and a Julian, or Semiramis, may
reign in the North, while Arcadius and Honorius again slumber on the
thrones of the South. The abuses of tyranny are restrained by the mutual
influence of fear and shame; republics have acquired order and
stability; monarchies have imbibed the principles of freedom, or, at
least, of moderation; and some sense of honor and justice is introduced
into the most defective constitutions by the general manners of the
times. In peace, the progress of knowledge and industry is accelerated
by the emulation of so many active rivals: in war, the European forces
are exercised by temperate and undecisive contests. If a savage
conqueror should issue from the deserts of Tartary, he must repeatedly
vanquish the robust peasants of Russia, the numerous armies of Germany,
the gallant nobles of France, and the intrepid freemen of Britain; who,
perhaps, might confederate for their common defence. Should the
victorious Barbarians carry slavery and desolation as far as the
Atlantic Ocean, ten thousand vessels would transport beyond their
pursuit the remains of civilized society; and Europe would revive and
flourish in the American world, which is already filled with her
colonies and institutions.
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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 counterbalance 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
valor of the Barbarian mercenaries. The military art has been changed by
the invention of gunpowder; which enables man to command the two most
powerful agents of nature, air and fire. Mathematics, chemistry,
mechanics, architecture, have been applied to the service of war; and
the adverse parties oppose to each other the most elaborate modes of
attack and of defence. Historians may indignantly observe, that the
preparations of a siege would found and maintain a flourishing colony;
yet we cannot be displeased, that the subversion of a city should be a
work of cost and difficulty; or that an industrious people should be
protected by those arts, which survive and supply the decay of military
virtue. Cannon and fortifications now form an impregnable barrier
against the Tartar horse; and Europe is secure from any future irruption
of Barbarians; since, before they can conquer, they must cease to be
barbarous. Their gradual advances in the science of war would always be
accompanied, as we may learn from the example of Russia, with a
proportionable improvement in the arts of peace and civil policy; and
they themselves must deserve a place among the polished nations whom
they subdue.
Should these speculations be found doubtful or fallacious, there still
remains a more humble source of comfort and hope. The discoveries of
ancient and modern navigators, and the domestic history, or tradition,
of the most enlightened nations, represent the human savage, naked both
in body and mind and destitute of laws, of arts, of ideas, and almost of
language. From this abject condition, perhaps the primitive and
universal state of man, he has gradually arisen to command the animals,
to fertilize the earth, to traverse the ocean and to measure the
heavens. His progress in the improvement and exercise of his mental and
corporeal faculties has been irregular and various; infinitely slow in
the beginning, and increasing by degrees with redoubled velocity: ages
of laborious ascent have been followed by a moment of rapid downfall;
and the several climates of the globe have felt the vicissitudes of
light and darkness. Yet the experience of four thousand years should
enlarge our hopes, and diminish our apprehensions: we cannot determine
to what height the human species may aspire in their advances towards
perfection; but it may safely be presumed, that no people, unless the
face of nature is changed, will relapse into their original barbarism.
The improvements of society may be viewed under a threefold aspect. 1.
The poet or philosopher illustrates his age and country by the efforts
of a single mind; but those superior powers of reason or fancy are rare
and spontaneous productions; and the genius of Homer, or Cicero, or
Newton, would excite less admiration, if they could be created by the
will of a prince, or the lessons of a preceptor. 2. The benefits of law
and policy, of trade and manufactures, of arts and sciences, are more
solid and permanent: and many individuals may be qualified, by education
and discipline, to promote, in their respective stations, the interest
of the community. But this general order is the effect of skill and
labor; and the complex machinery may be decayed by time, or injured by
violence. 3. Fortunately for mankind, the more useful, or, at least,
more necessary arts, can be performed without superior talents, or
national subordination: without the powers of one, or the union of many.
Each village, each family, each individual, must always possess both
ability and inclination to perpetuate the use of fire and of metals; the
propagation and service of domestic animals; the methods of hunting and
fishing; the rudiments of navigation; the imperfect cultivation of corn,
or other nutritive grain; and the simple practice of the mechanic
trades. Private genius and public industry may be extirpated; but these
hardy plants survive the tempest, and strike an everlasting root into
the most unfavorable soil. The splendid days of Augustus and Trajan were
eclipsed by a cloud of ignorance; and the Barbarians subverted the laws
and palaces of Rome. But the scythe, the invention or emblem of Saturn,
still continued annually to mow the harvests of Italy; and the human
feasts of the Læstrigons have never been renewed on the coast of
Campania.
Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce, and religious zeal
have diffused, among the savages of the Old and New World, these
inestimable gifts: they have been successively propagated; they can
never be lost. 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.
Vol. 3
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