f the two grand elements which were to meet together on the ruins of
Roman society, for the formation of modern society, the moral element,
the Christian religion, had already taken possession of souls; the
devastated territory awaited the coming of new peoples, known to history
under the general name of Germans, whom the Romans called the
Barbarians.

BEGINNING OF ROME'S DECLINE: COMMODUS

A.D. 180

EDWARD GIBBON

That a ruler of such noble character as the Roman philosopher
Marcus Aurelius should have had for his son and successor a man
like Commodus is one of the strange contrasts of history. The
succession of Commodus, marking as it does the beginning of the
decline of the great empire, may be regarded as one of the most
critical moments in the existence of Rome. How folly and cruelty,
shameless vice and unbridled ferocity, may be associated in the
same character has often been illustrated in the careers of the
world's rulers, and nowhere more conspicuously than in some of the
Roman emperors; and in the case of Commodus the combination of
these qualities led to acts which involved not only the Emperor
himself, but also the empire over which he ruled, in fatal
consequences.

This vast empire, composed of many different peoples, was under the
rule and subject to the caprice of one man. The form of the
government imposed practically no checks on his power. With such
able emperors as Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius the
State was safe; but the wise men of Rome had foreseen that a tyrant
or weak and inexperienced ruler, under this system, might plunge
the empire into confusion and ruin. Yet they had made no provision
against such a contingency. In the death of such a ruler and the
accession of an abler and juster one lay their only hope of
amelioration.

The course of events during the bloody reign of the degenerate
Commodus was such as surely to forecast the decline of Roman power
and supremacy. In the next hundred years there were twenty-three
emperors, thirteen of whom were murdered by their own soldiers or
servants--a tragic period of cruelty, licentiousness, and decay.

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world
during which the condition of the human race was most happy and
prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that w