Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is one of those books I feel as if I ought to have read, although the feeling's never been strong enough to actually do anything about it. Well, it wasn't until I read Gibbon's description of the trial of (Anti)Pope John XXIII at the Council of Constance;* 'the most scandalous charges were suppressed; the vicar of Christ was only accused of piracy, rape, sodomy and incest.'
In other words, Decline and Fall promises to deliver all the gossip and scandal any reasonable person could possibly need, thus rendering every 100 Shocking Celebrity Secrets You Just Won't Believe! article on the Internet obsolete. Well, that's my summer holiday reading sorted.
*Quoted in Colin McEvedy's The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History.
In other words, Decline and Fall promises to deliver all the gossip and scandal any reasonable person could possibly need, thus rendering every 100 Shocking Celebrity Secrets You Just Won't Believe! article on the Internet obsolete. Well, that's my summer holiday reading sorted.
*Quoted in Colin McEvedy's The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History.
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