The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ( Penguin Classics )

Abridged /E

Gibbon, Edward/ Womersley, David 저자(글)

Penguin Classic · 2001년 01월 01일

책 소개

‘Instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long’

Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire compresses thirteen turbulent centuries into an epic narrative shot through with insight, irony and incisive character analysis. Sceptical about Christianity, sympathetic to the barbarian invaders and the Byzantine Empire, constantly aware of how political leaders often achieve the exact opposite of what they intend, Gibbon was both alert to the broad pattern of events and significant revealing details. The first of its six volumes, published in 1776, was attacked for its enlightened views on politics, sexuality and religion, yet it was an immediate bestseller and widely acclaimed for the elegance of its prose. Gripping, powerfully intelligent and wonderfully entertaining, it is among the greatest works of history in the English language and a literary masterpiece of its age.

This abridgement is based on David Womersley’s definitive three-volume Penguin Classics edition of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Complete chapters from each volume, linked by extended bridging passages, vividly capture the style, argument and structure of the whole work.

작가정보

저자(글) Gibbon, Edward/ Womersley, David

Edward Gibbon was born in 1737 in Putney, England, and was the only child of his parents to survive infancy. Although his education was frequently interrupted by ill health, his knowledge was far-reaching. His brief career as an undergraduate at Magdalen College, Oxford, ended when he joined the Catholic Church. His father sent him to Lausanne, in Switzerland, where, while studying Greek and French for the next five years, he re-joined the Protestant Church. In 1761 he published his Essai sur l'?tude de la Litt?rature; the English version appeared in 1764. Meanwhile, Gibbon served as a captain in the Hampshire Militia until 1763, when he returned to the Continent. It was while he was in Rome in 1764 that he first conceived the work that was eventually to become The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

In 1774, after the death of his father, Gibbon settled in London and was elected to Parliament where he sat for the next eight years, although he never once spoke in the Commons. He also took his place among the literary circles of London. The first volume of his famous History was published in 1776; it was highly praised for its learning and style but incurred some censure for its treatment of the early Christians. The second and third volumes appeared in 1781 and the final three, which were written in Lausanne, in 1788. He died while on a visit to his friend, Lord Sheffield, who posthumously edited Gibbon's autobiographical papers and published them in 1796.

목차

• Abridged with a New Introduction and Notes by David Womersley
  Abbreviations
  Introduction
  Selected Further Reading
  A Note on the Text
  Chronology
  
  Gibbon's Prefaces
  Chapter I
  Chapter II
  Chapter III
  [Chapters IV-VI]
  Chapter VII
  [Chapters VIII-XIV]
  Chapter XV
  [Chapters XVI-XXI]
  Chapter XXII
  Chapter XXIII
  Chapter XXIV
  [Chapters XXV-XXVII]
  Chapter XXVIII
  [Chapters XXIX-XXXIII]
  Chapter XXXIV
  Chapter XXXV
  [Chapters XXXVI-XXXVIII]
  General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West
  [Chapter XXXIX]
  Chapter XL
  Chapter XLI
  [Chapters XLII-XLIX]
  Chapter L
  [Chapters LI-LIII]
  Chapter LIV
  [Chapters LV-LXVII]
  Chapter LXVIII
  [Chapters LXIX-LXX]
  Chapter LXXI
  
  Biographica

기본정보

ISBN	9780140437645 ( 0140437649 )
발행(출시)일자	2001년 01월 01일
쪽수	795쪽
크기	132 * 198 * 38 mm / 580 g
총권수	1권
언어	영어