The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume 1
Edward Gibbon
ed: J.B. Bury

The first volume in this printing by AMS press, based on a 1909 edition from Methuen. In this volume are the preface, chapters one to fourteen, notes on illustrations and editor’s notes. The narrative starts with the age of the Antonines, a time Gibbon regards as the height of the Roman power, and describes the succession of emperors and wars until the accession of Constantine. It is as is said, that Gibbon is a master of the historical narrative, and his prose is the most lucid written.
Some quotes:
Chapter 2: “The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord”
Chapter 7: writing of the election of a monarch: “Experience overturns these airy fabrics, and teaches us that in a large society the election of a monarch can never devolve to the wisest or to the most numerous part of the people. The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow citizens; but the temper of soldiers, habituated at once to violence and to slavery, renders them very unfit guardians of a legal or even a civil constitution.”
Chapter 8: a saying of the Zend Avesta, the treatise of Zoroaster: “He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers.”
Chapter 13: “From the monuments of those times, the obscure traces of several other victories over the barbarians of Sarmatia and Germany might possibly be collected, but the tedious search would not be rewarded either with amusement or with instruction.”
Chapter 18: “At the same time that Diocletian chastised the past crimes of the Egyptians, he provided for their future safety and happiness by many wise regulations, which were confirmed and enforced under the succeeding reigns. One very remarkable edict which he published, instead of being condemned as the effact of jealous tyranny, deserves to be applauded as an act of prudence and humanity. He caused a diligent inquiry to be made "for all the ancient books which treated of the admirable art of making gold and silver, and without pity, committed them to the flames; apprehensive, as we are are assured, lest the opulence of the Egyptians should inspire them with confidence to rebel against the empire." But if Diocletian had been convinced of the reality of that valuable art, far from extinguishing the memory, he would have converted the operation of it to the benefit of the public revenue. It is much more likely, that his good sense discovered to him the folly of such magnificent pretensions, and that he was desirous of preserving the reason and fortunes of his subjects from the mischievous pursuit. It may be remarked, that the ancient books, so liberally ascribed to Pythagoras, to Solomon, or to Hermes, were the pious frauds of more recent adepts. The Greeks were inattentive either to the use or to the abuse of chemsitry. In that immense register, where Pliny has deposited the discoveries, the arts, and the errors of mankind, there is not the least mention of the transmutation of metals and the persecution of Diocletian is the first authentic event in the history of alchemy. The conquest of Egypt by the Arabs diffused that vain science over the globe. Congenial to the avarice of the human heart, it was studied in China as in Europe, with equal eagerness, and with equal success. The darkness of the middle ages insured a favorable reception to every tale of wonder, and the revival of learning gave new vigor to hope, and suggested more specious arts of deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length banished the study of alchemy, and the present age, however desirous of riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and industry” ( )

The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (2004)