Beginning of Essay
"If," writes Roman historian Edward Gibbon in his A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," a man were called upon to fix the period in the history of the world when the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without he ....

Middle of Essay
.... Gibbon's period of happiness and prosperity. Some of the symptoms, at least, can be recognized. Many financial (economical), social, and political (including military) reasons can be seen as a cause to the powerful Empire's crumbling. Financial burdens began to be imposed on the local magistrates and senators, and by the second century many cities had spent themselves into debt. There was the cost of repairing and maintaining the temples, public baths, and the like. There were also heavy expenditures for civic sacrifices, religious processions, feasts and for the games necessary to amuse the proletariat. The expenditure on the public spectacles kept ....