Why Rome Fell (a Condensed Version)

Why Rome Fell (a condensed version)


The sun had long ago set, the newborn moon peeked out from behind a
scattering of thin, high clouds.   From a vantage point atop one of seven hills I
could see glimpses of how this great city must once have looked.   The mammoth
buildings seem to shed their long years and are once again as they were; huge,
awe inspiring, it is as if a portal in time had opened and I am afforded a
glimpse into what was Rome.   What could have caused this once master of all
cities to fall?   This paper will attempt to describe some of the explanations
generally accepted, or should I say argued, and possibly shed some light on what
could have caused the fall of what was, unquestionably, the most powerful empire
in history.
I feel that I must begin with the explanations given by Edward Gibbon.
While few agree entirely with his logic, his Decline and Fall on the Roman
Empire is certainly unavoidable in a paper such as this.   His work could be best
summed up by the word confusing.   According to David Jordan, ‘the causes for
Rome's fall march across the pages of the Decline and Fall, seemingly without
pattern, and seemingly unrelated to each other.   This quote taken from the
seventh chapter of Jordan's Gibbon and his Roman Empire sum up my feelings
concerning the work; however, I will attempt to show some of Gibbon's Causes for
this decline.
        Two of Gibbon's causes are the political blunders of its emperors and
their search for personal glory.   These are especially obvious in his chapters
on Constantine.   In them Gibbon accuses the emperor of destroying Rome for his
own personal glory.   Another cause would have to be the anti-Roman nature of
Christianity.   Gibbons argues that the   ‘insensible' penetration of Christianity
was fatal to the empire by undermining the genius of a great people.   On a
pessimistic note, Gibbon also lists as a ‘causes' the inevitable collapse of all
human institutions, some arguments on the corrupting nature of luxury,... [continues]

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