Eutropius – Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 32 Part 1

Gibbon is not keen on the Byzantine Empire, although some people have exaggerated how much he disliked it.  But it was certainly a very different kind of empire to the one from which it developed.  Europe was to draw its heritage mainly from the West, and despite its longevity the theocratic Byzantine state has not been one that has had many admirers.