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The danger to the unwary reader is from the sceptical bias of the author,
which, while he states every important fact, leads him, by its manner of
presentation, to warp it, or put it in a false light. Thus, for example,
he has praise for paganism, and easy absolution for its sins; Mohammed
walks the stage with a stately stride; Alaric overruns Europe to a grand
quickstep; but Christianity awakens no enthusiasm, and receives no
eulogium, although he describes its early struggles, its martyrdoms, its
triumphs under Constantine, its gentle radiance during the dark ages, and
its powerful awakening. Because he cannot believe, he cannot even be just.
In his special chapter on the rise and spread of Christianity, he gives a
valuable summary of its history, and of the claims of the papacy, with
perhaps a leaning towards the Latin Church. Gibbon finished his work at
Lausanne on the 27th of June, 1787.
Its conception had come to his mind as he sat one evening amid the ruins
of the Capitol at Rome, and heard the barefooted friars singing vespers in
the Temple of Jupiter.


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