A concise history of the Roman Empire published in the fourth century, from the creation of Rome through Valens' accession. The book, translated by John Selby Watson, tells the story of Rome's early monarchy and republic till the time of Constantine and his successors to the death of Jovian (364 AD). Flavius Eutropius was a Roman historian who lived during the second part of the fourth century. He served as the city's secretary (magister memoriae), traveled with Emperor Julian (361-363) on his operations against Persia, and continued to live until the reign of Valens (364–378), to whom he dedicated the Breviarium historiae Romanae (the Breviarium of Roman History), which is also the point at which the history of that work comes to an end.

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Gibbon offers an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell, a task made difficult by a lack of comprehensive written sources, though he was not the only historian to tackle the subject. Most of his ideas are directly taken from what few relevant records were available: those of the Roman moralists of the 4th and 5th centuries.