Volume 2 of 3 (Volume 1 addressed here).
I continue to very much enjoy Gibbon's writing (both substance and style). And it's impressive to consider how well his work has held up after near 250 years.
This volume circles back to consider the conduct of the Roman government towards Christianity starting with Nero, and continues with general overview until just a few years past the final separation of the Eastern and Western empires (364 AD).
As with Volume 1 - much discussion about the various emperors and the way responsibilities were split. Major characters included Constantine and his sons; Julian (something of a philosopher-warrior, sought to restore paganism). Battles go on in both east and west; barbarians and adjacent empires or nations get rowdy; successful emperors seem to rise up sufficiently regularly to hold things together reasonably well. But not always. Toward the end of this volume - some of the large-scale wars with Persia that contributed to the mutual exhaustion of Rome and Persia prior to the emergence of Islam.
The discussions about Christianity in this context are pretty interesting. Many elements for Gibbon resonate with this discussion - where the author was focused on the death of Jesus and the few ragtag followers in place at that time - yet Christianity grew into a powerful worldwide institution - how?? Gibbon pretty staunchly (if somewhat covertly, given that he desired to get published) anti-clerical, anti-organized church - so I try to read him with that in mind.
While Christianity clearly was making some strides, so much of it comes back to Constantine. Like Mohammed (discussed here), Jesus didn't leave behind a comprehensive written roadmap - later generations (in many cases "very" later!) did that - perhaps they were divinely inspired, perhaps other considerations mattered. Christianity had some maddeningly tricky concepts - main example being how to define the relationship between "three persons in one God" - not addressed in the Gospels or other early writings. Arians - known forever as "Arian heretics" after 325 - the best-known not-orthodox (as it turned out) variant. Various groups in various geographies had various interpretations - and they definitely annoyed one another, but some coexistence seemed to be the norm.
But now there is an emperor with minimal theological background but intense interest in getting everyone on the same page - Council of Nicea, 325 - now there's the imperial juice to define heretics, and make life miserable for them.
And with the imposition of a Roman/imperial superstructure for the church - gobs of money at stake - but not for the not-orthodox clergy. This of course encouraged intense competition for bishoprics. Venality arises early, it didn't wait until the Reformation - already imperial Rome found it necessary to pass laws preventing "spiritual adviser" priests from taking huge bequests from wealthy Romans (typically female it seems).
Constantine generally revered for legitimizing Christianity's position in the Roman empire, but wow, was the Roman administrative structure really a good thing for Christianity? Folks occupying what I'll call "offices" in the 4th century church adopted the outlook and mannerisms of the imperial government. Not to mention, look what attempted enforcement of orthodoxy has achieved.
Gibbon has an interesting discussion about the difference between the church in the east and the west - he describes the westerners as essentially too rude in the sense that they (recent or present barbarians depending on one's viewpoint) lacked a history of parsing theology minutiae, and thus tended to adopt what was put in front of them by the leadership. In the east - endless energy to fight about nuances of the nature of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and so much else. We end up with various sub-groups within Christianity to this day, all originating from the eastern church.
Julian was an interesting character - not a willing emperor - preferred hanging around as a philosopher in Athens - but became highly effective, including in battle.
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