The Past Speaks

First published in 1776, English historian Edward Gibbon's book, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a six-volume study of, well, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. It is, in fact, a daunting read, but I've been trying to absorb it just the same.

One could easily and understandably think, "But ... why? Why spend all that time reading about the decline and fall of an empire that ended more than 5 centuries ago? What does it matter?" Well, of course, there is the fact that it is an interesting read. I can't quantify it, of course, but it always feels like older English writers were better English writers than today's modern version, even if it is "boring history". And then there's the classic Churchillian quote, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it", a concept taken from George Santayana's The Life of Reason (1905), who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

In that light, it is indeed interesting some of the notions that Gibbon puts out. For instance, in describing the subjects of Rome in its heyday, he says that they were ever inclined to rebellion but incapable of freedom. What a concept. It sounds ... wrong. But I remember, when our troops were trying to free Iraq from Saddam and bring democracy to that war torn land, wondering if they had the capability of freedom. And then you realize (if you're paying attention) that this is a biblical description of mankind in general. We are constantly inclined to rebellion, either against parents or teachers or government or, ultimately and most often, God. We want to "break free". We want to "do it my way". We want to "be like the Most High". But Paul assures us of the other side of the coin. "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness" (Rom 6:16-18). As in Dylan's singing version, we can be quite certain that, "It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you're gonna have to serve somebody." Inclined always to rebellion but incapable of freedom.

In Volume 1, Chapter 9, Gibbon describes for us what he calls "barbarians". What makes a "barbarian"? He starts with the premise that they are not masters of letters. Without a firm grasp on the written word, he argues, they cannot learn and pass that learning on to subsequent generations. Written communication is key. And I look at the texting and facebooking and Twitter stuff that today's younger generation is using and ask myself, "Do they have a firm grasp on the written word?" The number of times I see their own generation ask, "What are you talking about?" suggests that they don't. But he goes on with a very interesting next characteristic. He says that barbarians are lazy and yet energetic. Huh? Well, he says, they aren't really interested in doing any industrious work, but they are inexhaustible in their efforts to find the next big sensation. They lived for big experiences. You know, like extreme sports. Oh, wait, no, that's our time. Oh, wait ... could it be that we are headed toward being barbarians in Gibbon's view?

Gibbon argues that Rome fell for a few basic reasons. First, they were strong as long as they had wars to fight and places to conquer and enemies to subdue. They got soft when they got rich and comfortable. Gibbon argues that, just as humans live under a "no pain, no gain" sentence, so also do civilizations. Second, in their rich and comfortable decline, they experienced moral decline. They indulged every whim, outsourced their work to other places (yes, that's one of his observations), surrendered any sense of civic virtue, and pursued pleasure as the ultimate good. Now if that doesn't describe America, I don't know what does.

Reading a six-volume work on the decline and fall of an empire that died out hundreds of years ago would seem to be a waste of time. But what's disturbing is just how contemporary it turns out to be. And we're doing it so much faster than they did. How long do we think we have at this rate? Not even Gibbon knows for sure.