Gibbon and the Byzantines

Well, if anyone thought Gibbon had problem with Christians, you should read what he had to say about the Byzantines. He has long intorduction to his section on the Byzantine Empire where he points out how corrupt, vicious, degraded, etc., the Greek speaking inhabitants of the Empire were. At least, according to Gibbon.

Here's his assessment of one of their emperors:

'If Constantine the eleventh were indeed the subject most worthy of empire, we must pity the debasement of the age and nation in which he was chosen.'

Occasionally he found one or two to admire, at least before pointing out all the ways they fell short of being true Romans. Here is his take on Emperor John Comnenus (AD 1118):

'During his government of twenty-five years, the penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of which the practice, in a large and vicious community, is seldom consistent with the public safety.'

Sounds like a familiar argument - at least here in America.

And finally, here Gibbon comments on the sterner virtues of John's son Manuel (AD 1143):

'The first in the charge, the last in the retreat, his friends and his enemies alike trembled, the former for his safety, and the latter for their own.'