Tom Hoffman

As of last night, I finished the first two original volumes of the History, which comprise the first volume of my Penguin hardcover edition.  So, I’ve finished 1,083 pages in 34 days of reading.  More to the point, I’ve traversed roughly 200 years of Roman imperial history with Gibbon as my wonderful guide!  As I finished this volume, the Roman world was precariously held together by force and wiles of one man — Theodosius.  Recalled from retirement in Spain after the scandalous execution of his heroic namesake father and fellow general, Theodosius agrees to help clean up the Goth crisis created by corrupt imperial leadership.  As Gibbon carefully explains, in one of his many deep side excursions into the history of the barbarians, the Goths were driven into the arms of Rome by the incursion of the Huns, an even fiercier barbarian tribe that had previously been known only to the Eastern world of China.  Fleeing the Huns, the Goths seek admission and resettlement within the empire, pledging their fealty with their own children, who reluctantly handed over as hostages.  Unfortunately for Rome, their corrupt administrators exploit the Goths as they are being resettled, botching what might have been a peaceful and mutually advantageous arrangement and pushing the Goths to despair.  What’s more, the same Roman administrators failed to fully disarm this now internalized group (bought off by the offer of liasons with the Goths’ beautiful women, Gibbon explains).  After a general revolt, aided by fifth columnists elsewhere in the empire, the Goths rampage at will through much of the central Roman province of Illyricum, before Theodosius is recalled, made co-emperor, and the Goths dissipate their energies in internal conflicts.  All I can say, after reaching this last of so many complicated scenarios and episodes, is that it is hard to believe I’ve covered only about 200 years so far.  On I go to the next volume!