The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, edited by David Womersly (Penguin, four volumes, $24.95 each)

There are many reasons to be grateful to Penguin Books for having brought out a handsome new edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, admirably edited by David Womersley, who has supplied a good introduction and bibliographical appendix, with other useful documents. One of these reasons is that Gibbon is the greatest historian who has written ...