ving after precision and accuracy is shown in some marginal
corrections he made in his own printed copy of "The Decline and Fall."
On the first page in his first printed edition and as it now stands, he
said, "To deduce the most important circumstances of its decline and
fall: a revolution which will ever be remembered and is still felt by
the nations of the earth." For this the following is substituted: "To
prosecute the decline and fall of the empire of Rome: of whose language,
religion, and laws the impression will be long preserved in our own and
the neighboring countries of Europe." He thus explains the change: "Mr.
Hume told me that, in correcting his history, he always labored to
reduce superlatives and soften positives. Have Asia and Africa, from
Japan to Morocco, any feeling or memory of the Roman Empire?"

On page 6, Bury's edition, the text is, "The praises of Alexander,
transmitted by a succession of poets and historians, had kindled a
dangerous emulation in the mind of Trajan." We can imagine that Gibbon
reflected, What evidence have I that Trajan had read these poets and
historians? Therefore he made this change: "Late generations and far
distant climates may impute their calamities to the immortal author of
the Iliad. The spirit of Alexander was inflamed by the praises of
Achilles; and succeeding heroes have been ambitious to tread in the
footsteps of Alexander. Like him, the Emperor Trajan aspired to the
conquest of the East."[121]

The "advertisement" to the first octavo edition published in 1783 is an
instance of Gibbon's truthfulness. He wrote, "Some alterations and
improvements had presented themselves to my mind, but I was unwilling to
injure or offend the purchasers of the preceding editions." Then he
seems to reflect that this is not quite the whole truth and adds,
"Perhaps I may stand excused if, amidst the avocations of a busy winter,
I have preferred the pleasures of composition and study to the minute
diligence of revising a former publication."[122]

The severest criticism that Gibbon has received is on his famous
chapters XV and XVI which conclude his first volume in the original
quarto edition of 1776. We may disregard the flood of contemporary
criticism from certain people who were excited by what they deemed an
attack on the Christian religion. Dean Milman, who objected seriously to
much in these chapters, consulted these various answers to Gibbon on the
first appearance of his work wit