“In the second Century of the Christian Era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.”

From the very start of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon presents an idealized view of ancient Rome, especially Rome during the second century CE. Like many other Enlightenment thinkers, while Gibbon had a positive view of Europe in his own day, he also believed that the classical era represented a golden age unrivaled by any other period in ancient or medieval history.

“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.”

This is one of the more famous declarations from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon suggests that religion works best for society when it is a tool for social order, rather than disagreement and discord, and encourages rather than represses diversity of belief and opinion. His assertion that the philosopher regards all religious creeds “as equally false” while the magistrate regards them “as equally useful” reveals Gibbon’s religious cynicism, which attracted some controversy in his own day.

“The aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honourable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own wheresoever they were found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or barbarians.”

Gibbon argues that one of the reasons Rome rose to become a great empire was that, unlike the Greek city-states, it freely offered citizenship to many different peoples, even the peoples they conquered. This view has been vindicated by later historians of ancient Rome.