The decline of Rome, as Gibbon said, was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight.
The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it has subsisted for so long.
