Barbarism and Religion: Volume 6, Barbarism: Triumph in the West

544 Pages·2015·2.468 MB·English

by  J. G. A. Pocock

Barbarism and Religion
VolumeSix
This sixth and final volume in John Pocock’s acclaimed sequence of
works on Barbarism and Religion examines Volumes ii and iii of
Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, carrying
Gibbon’s narrative to the end of empire in the west. “It makes two
general assertions: first, that this is in reality a mosaic of narratives,
writtenondiversepremisesandneverfullysynthesisedwithoneanother;
andsecond,thatthesechaptersassertaprogressofbothbarbarismand
religionfromeasttowest,leavingmuchhistorybehindastheydoso.”
ThemagnitudeofBarbarismandReligionisalreadyapparent.Barbarism:
TriumphintheWestrepresentstheculminationofaremarkableattempt
todiscoverandpresentwhatGibbonwassaying,whathemeantbyit,
and why he said it in the ways that he did, as well as an unparalleled
contributiontothehistoriographyofEnlightenedEurope.
j. g. a. pocock wasborninLondonandbroughtupinChristchurch,
New Zealand, and educated at the Universities of Canterbury and
Cambridge.HeisnowHarryC.BlackProfessorofHistoryEmeritusat
the Johns Hopkins University and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s
College, Cambridge. His many seminal works on intellectual history
include The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law (1957, second
edition 1987), Politics, Language and Time (1971), The Machiavellian
Moment (1975, second edition 2003), Virtue, Commerce and History
(1985), The Discovery of Islands (2005), Political Thought and History
(2009)andfivevolumesinanongoingsequence,initiatedin1999,on
BarbarismandReligion.HehasalsoeditedThePoliticalWorksofJames
Harrington (1977) and Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France
(1987),aswellasthecollaborativestudyTheVarietiesofBritishPolitical
Thought(1995).ACorrespondingFellowoftheBritishAcademyandof
theRoyalHistoricalSociety,ProfessorPocockisalsoamemberofthe
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American
Philosophical Society. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of
NewZealandMeritin2002.

Barbarism and Religion
Barbarism: Triumph in the West
VolumeSix
J.G.A. Pocock
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©J.G.A.Pocock2015
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To the memory of Michel Baridon, 1927–2009

Contents
Acknowledgements pageix
Advicetoreaders x
Listofabbreviations xii
Introduction 1
PartI TheConstantinianEmpire 11
1 Constantinople:anewcityandanewhistory 13
2 ConstantinetoJulian:thedisintegrationofadynasty 44
PartII TheChurchintheEmpire 65
3 Constantine’ssecondrevolution 67
4 Theologyandtheproblemsofauthority 81
5 Nicaeaanditsaftermath 93
6 ThereignofConstantiusandtheAriantriumph 108
7 Thestructureofchapter21 121
PartIII TheInterludeofJulian 145
8 GibbonandJulian:thehistoryofananomaly 147
9 Julianapostate:thefailureofanalternative 161
10 Julianaspersecutor:fromtolerationtothefailure
ofrepression 178
11 ThesojournatAntiochandthePersiandisaster 196
vii
viii Contents
PartIV Barbarism:TheFirstCatastrophe 215
12 ValentinianIandValens:theturntothewest 217
13 Thegeographyandhistoriographyofthewestern
DeclineandFall 253
PartV TheTriumphofOrthodoxyandtheLast
Emperor 277
14 ThereignofTheodosius:triumphsprecedingdisaster 279
15 AmbroseofMilan:thechurchandtheempire 293
16 Theodosiusnarratedandre-narrated:thedeathand
rebirthofpolytheism 309
PartVI TheBarbarisationoftheWest 333
17 TheGothicphase:thesackofRomeandtheloss
ofthetransalpinewest 335
18 VandalsandHuns:thetwinempiresandtheloss
ofAfrica 371
19 AttilaandAetius:theHuninvasionsofthewest 391
20 Theendofthewesternsuccession 415
PartVII AftertheFall:TowardsaHistoryNotWritten 435
21 Endsandbeginnings:theconclusionofGibbon’s
thirdvolume 437
22 Thebarbariankingdomsandtheirlaws:the
beginningsofamedievalhistory 456
23 TheGeneralObservations 489
24 Gibbon’sfirsttrilogyanditssuccessorvolumes.
Conclusionofthepresentseries 501
Bibliography 510
Index 517