The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 罗马帝国衰亡史（英文版）
[英] 爱德华·吉本
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805.5万字总字数
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[英] 爱德华·吉本
《罗马帝国衰亡史》是英国历史学家爱德华·吉本穷毕生之力写就的史学巨著，也是西方史学史上公认的第一部"现代"历史著作。 全书共六卷、七十一章，篇幅逾百万字，系统记述了从公元二世纪罗马帝国黄金时代（安东尼王朝）起，历经三世纪危机、戴克里先改革、君士坦丁大帝与基督教兴起、帝国分裂与蛮族入侵、西罗马帝国覆灭（476年），直至东罗马帝国（拜占庭）最终为奥斯曼帝国攻陷君士坦丁堡（1453年）为止，长达一千三百余年的兴衰历程。吉本凭借对同时代原始文献的大量考证，从政治、经济、军事、宗教与文化等多重维度剖析了罗马衰亡的原因，深刻揭示了专制体制对公民精神的侵蚀、军队的跋扈、财政的崩溃以及蛮族入侵的外部冲击。他尤其对基督教的兴起在帝国衰亡中的作用作了大胆而客观的分析，并由此生发出对宗教与世俗历史关系的深刻思考，在当时引发了巨大的争议。 这部著作以优美流畅、讽刺犀利的英语散文著称，被誉为"英语散文的杰作"。它不仅是一部罗马史，更是一部关于文明兴衰、权力更迭与人类命运的深刻沉思，至今仍是研究西方文明史不可绕过的经典。
以优美流畅、讽刺犀利的英语散文著称，被誉为"英语散文的杰作"。不仅是一部罗马史，更是一部关于文明兴衰、权力更迭与人类命运的深刻沉思，至今仍是研究西方文明史不可绕过的经典。Gibbon has his place in literature not only as the stylist, who never lays aside his toga when he takes up his pen, but as the expounder of a large and striking idea in a sphere of intense interest to mankind, and as a powerful representative of certain tendencies of his age. The guiding idea or “moral” of his history is briefly stated in his epigram: “I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion.” In other words, the historical development of human societies, since the second century after Christ, was a retrogression (according to ordinary views of “progress”), for which Christianity was mainly to blame. This conclusion of Gibbon tended in the same direction as the theories of Rousseau; only, while Rousseau dated the decline from the day when men left Arcadia, Gibbon’s era was the death of Marcus Aurelius.