Concentrating on the centuries from the rule of Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) to the fall of the Empire in the west, this abridged volume chronicles "the triumph of barbarism and religion" in the disruption of the united Empire, the rise of Christianity, the progress of the Asiatic Huns and the revolt of the Goths. Never far below the surface of this magnificent narrative lies Gibbons' sweeping irony, typified in his definition of history: "Little more than a register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind."