One of the things I love about the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is the artful way analysis and commentary are slipped in just where they seem to belong. A good example is found at the start of Chapter Five where we are treated to an explanation of the role of the army

Away from Rome things were going badly. In Gaul and Spain troops deserted and set up in bands to make a living by raiding the cities. When a belated crack down came Maturnus, the leader of the bandits ordered his followers to split into small groups, and make their way to Rome. They would regroup

Commodus. Not a noble character. Gibbon thought that he was more weak than evil. But perhaps it isn’t very meaningful to make judgements. After all, the early life of Commodus could not have been more divorced from reality. Michael Jackson probably led a more normal life. He showed little interest in the hard work of

If you want to be an emperor, the easiest way is to be born into it.

The whole History Books Review organisation was saddened to hear this week of the death of Michael Foot. In addition to his career as a politician he was of course also a historian of some note and his biography of Aneurin Bevan is on the list of books I intend to review. This particular book

Marcus Aurelius would probably have been remembered as a philosopher even if he had not gone into politics, a unique achievement.   At an early age, long before becoming the Emperor was even a remote possibility, Marcus embraced the philosophy of the stoics. It seems that from that time on he was first and foremost