The legend of the Seven Sleepers testifies to the need men felt, even before the tragedy had come to an end, to symbolize in a manageable form the tremendous changes they saw going on around them.

But the legend only refers to the changes in religion.

The fall of Rome was much more than that.

It was the death of the old pagan world and the birth of the new Christian world--the greatest transition in history.
This, and no less than this, is Gibbon's subject.
He has treated it in such a way as even now fills competent judges with something like astonishment.

His accuracy, coupled with the extraordinary range of his matter, the variety of his topics, the complexity of his undertaking, the fulness and thoroughness of his knowledge, never failing at any point over the vast field, the ease and mastery with which he lifts the enormous load, are appreciated in proportion to the information and abilities of his critic.