The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume 2

Edward Gibbons six-volume History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88) is among the most magnificent and ambitious narratives in European literature. Its subject is the fate of one of the worlds greatest civilizations over thirteen centuries - its rulers wars and society and the events that led to its disastrous collapse. Here in volumes three and four Gibbon vividly recounts the waves of barbarian invaders under commanders such as Alaric and Attila who overran and eventually destroyed the West. He then turns his gaze to events in the East where even the achievements of the Byzantine emperor Justinian and the campaigns of the brilliant military leader Belisarius could not conceal the fundamental weaknesses of their empire. About the Author David Womersley is the Thomas Warton Professor of Literature at the University of Oxford. Among his interests are Jonathan Swift (he was the general editor of the CUP edition of Swift) Daniel Defoe and Edward Gibbon whoseDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire he edited for Penguin Classics.