Audiobook · read by volunteers
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. I
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)
Read by Kirsten Ferreri, Chris Chapman, Sibella Denton, Christie Nowak, Gesine, ontheroad, Jim Mowatt, krithiga, Robin Cotter, Julian Jamison · 52 chapters · 19 h 50
About the book
When Edward Gibbon sat among the ruins of Rome and began to ask how a great empire had fallen, he did not guess that the answer would take him twenty years and six volumes. This first volume traces the story from the height of Roman power in the second century through the reigns of emperors good and bad and the crises of the third century. Gibbon writes with a cool irony and a splendid command of English, judging men and institutions with relish. His great history shaped the way later generations understood the ancient world, and it is as much a monument of English prose as of historical writing. Fifty-two parts, almost twenty hours, for listeners who enjoy a majestic style.
Introduction
Edward Gibbon lived from 1737 to 1794. An English historian and member of Parliament, he spent much of his life working on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a major literary achievement of the eighteenth century, published in six volumes. Volume I appeared in 1776, and went through six printings, a remarkable feat for its time. Volumes II and III were published in 1781, and volumes IV, V and VI in 1788. The original volumes were published as quartos, a common practice of the time.
The books cover the period of the Roman Empire from the second century to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Gibbon argued that the empire's decline owed much to a loss of civic virtue and to the rise of Christianity, a claim that stirred strong controversy when the book first appeared. His chapters on the early church in particular drew criticism, and he replied to his critics. Whatever one thinks of his conclusions, his method, which relied on a close reading of ancient sources and a readiness to weigh evidence, marked a new standard.
This recording of the first volume was produced by LibriVox volunteers. It includes the introduction and prefaces, and the chapters, many of them divided into parts, so that there are fifty-two sections. The whole lasts nearly twenty hours.
Why listen? Because Gibbon's prose is a pleasure in itself, with long, balanced sentences and sly asides, and because his questions about how great powers decline continue to be asked.
Public domain
Edward Gibbon died in 1794: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text