The word slope It comes from Latin, specifically from the nominalization of the adjective decliniswhich literally means "that is on a slope" applied to a physical terrain that is inclined from top to bottom, or "that is in decline" (see decaySimilarly, it is used figuratively to describe anything or anyone that gradually loses strength, intensity, importance, or perfection. However, "to be in decline" is not usually said of individuals, but rather of groups, states, or societies that gradually lose their strength or the values ​​that constitute them and weaken until they disintegrate. It is also used to describe different historical periods in which an artistic or cultural movement loses its value or relevance. Historically, "to be in decline" is used to describe different political systems that can succeed one another, such as democracy, monarchy, republic, or empire. In chronological order, decline usually precedes the fall (see in this same volume: fall), as indicated by classic titles such as The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788) by Edward Gibbon.

Among the various narratives about historical processes of decline, a fundamental reference point is the different myths that explain the decline of the human species through theories of corruption and degeneration. The myth of The Edades of the Man Hesiod's work (700 BC) is a fundamental reference. In his work The Works and the DaysAfter addressing the myths of Prometheus and Pandora, Hesiod narrates the process of decline and degeneration of the human species; this is a cyclical theory of the ages of the world that follows the Babylonian doctrine of the cosmic year. The Babylonians divided history into different ages that corresponded to different metals; Hesiod represents the succession of these ages as a process of degeneration, awaiting the opportune moment of its reversal, a historical moment that requires a "cosmic liberator." This doctrine of Babylonian origin, closely related to Persian cosmogony and Zoroastrianism, left its mark on Hesiod's Greece through his work, which shows influences from Near Eastern doctrines. From this summarized exposition of the myth of the ages of man, we can draw a series of conclusions. First, Hesiod doesn't speak of the origin of humankind, but rather of its origins, in the plural, since we find five races of men (the golden, the silver, the bronze, the heroic, and the iron). Second, this succession of declining races, each worse than the last, is governed by a law of decadence or degeneration. Generally speaking, we can suggest that this myth ultimately serves as an explanation for the pitiful state into which the human species has degenerated as a result of a process of corruption and decay that culminates in the Iron Age, in which "Only grievous pains will remain for mortals, and there will be no remedy for evil."

From Greece itself, Plato (427-347 BC), in Book III of the Republic, attributes the origin of the differences within the human species to the varying proportions of different metals found in the souls of each individual. According to Plato, all human beings possess in their souls, in different proportions, a part of gold, another of silver, and another of bronze and iron. Those in whom gold predominates are potentially philosophers and rulers; those in whom silver predominates, warriors and guardians; and those in whom bronze and iron predominate, artisans and workers, those human beings destined for agricultural and pastoral labor. However, unlike Hesiod, for Plato all humans come from the same origin; this is the main difference, but not the only one. Secondly, for Plato, there are different classes of citizens based on the varying combinations of the different metals that compose their souls. This, in turn, stems from the different natures of human beings, despite their shared origin. Ultimately, it is important to note that this classification of citizens serves a political function for Plato, as it allows him to propose a political order for the city based on the establishment of distinct social classes. These classes are differentiated by the social functions they are destined to perform according to their distinct natural composition. The moment this social order is broken, the city or the republic will perish: "According to the oracle, the city will perish when guarded by the iron or bronze guardian." Therefore, to prevent the city's decline, each citizen must fulfill the social function appropriate to their natural disposition, all for the sake of the city's proper functioning.

The same theories of corruption and degeneration are applicable not only to the human species but also to the succession of different political regimes, to which a process of degeneration is inherent. As Plato illustrates in the Republic, specifically in Book VIII, through a natural process of corruption, oligarchy degenerates into democracy, while democracy necessarily degenerates into tyranny. According to Plato, the transition between democracy and tyranny is determined by the people, who, when assembled as a majority, constitute the most powerful class in a democracy, but rarely unite unless such unity provides them with some wealth. If their leaders confront the wealthy to distribute wealth among the masses, the people usually participate. Then, it is common for the wealthy to defend themselves and attempt to restore an oligarchy. The people react and elect the most bloodthirsty leader from among their ranks. Once the popular majority is deposed by the charismatic leader, the government of equality transforms into a government of fear, and thus democracy degenerates into tyranny.

The same narrative and conceptual framework of decadence or decline is found in Book I of the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (47 BC-17 AD). In this work, Ovid compiles mythological tales from the Greek world and adapts them, in an act of cultural transmission, to the Latin culture of his time. Among these is the myth of the ages of man. As Ovid narrates it, there is also a succession beginning with a first Golden Age, in which man did not need to be governed by virtue of his inherent goodness. He also had everything he needed to sustain himself, thus being free from cultivating the land. This first stage is followed by a second Silver Age, ruled by Jupiter, who divided the year into four seasons, making it necessary for men to adapt to the environmental conditions and cultivate the land. Finally, in the third age, the Bronze Age, men experienced cruelty, betrayal, and weapons, culminating in the Iron Age.

All these myths that illustrate the decline, whether of the human species or of different political regimes, have in common a cyclical conception of time that refers to the existence of a natural cycle (birth-life-decline-death-birth) which in Greek is known by the term anakyklosis and which finds application both by reference to the process of degeneration of the human species, as well as by reference to the process of succession between different political regimes.

The same pattern of decline and corruption can be applied to a linear conception of time typical of monotheistic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. The archetypal image of the decline or fall of the human species is that represented in the book of Genesis from the Old Testament as the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, which reappears with some variations in both the Quran and Gnostic writings. The fullness, abundance, and self-sufficiency of the metahistorical order are shattered as a consequence of a defiant act, a transgression, an excess, a hybrisThis excess inaugurates the suffering and painful history of humankind.

Another figure directly related to the failure of humankind in terms of decadence and corruption is the image of the fallThis is paradigmatically represented in the myth of Icarus, illustrated by Ovid's Phaethon. This myth follows a similar pattern: the triggering factor is always excess, an exercise in hybris which leads to the transgression of the limit, and which is punished with the fall that follows the previous process of decline. The Greek doctrines of decline and decadence are shrouded in a fatalistic tone: Thucydides (460-395 BC), for example, maintains that men cyclically succumb in history because of their ambition (philotimia) and his lust for power (pleonexiaThis kind of anthropological pessimism is counterbalanced by Plato's pedagogical vocation, which aims to educate citizens to reverse the city's decline. The decadent theory of human history is also balanced in Virgil's fourth eclogue (70-19 BC), where the Roman poet confronts the need to halt and reverse the cycle of decline. We cannot escape the clutches of decadence and corruption as long as humankind is in the hands of a tragic destiny. Nor will we break free from the decadent cycle until we find an individual with the necessary virtue to overcome Fortune. In this sense, Virgil leaves open the possibility of a return to the Golden Age thanks to the intervention of an exceptional figure, who in Imperial Rome would be Caesar Augustus. In this way, the fall of humankind would not necessarily be fatal, but reversible. Specifically, Virgil, in Book I of the Aenida, makes Jupiter prophesy the indefinite duration of the Roman Empire, a imperium sine fine, without limit in time or space.

This Virgilian gesture, aimed at justifying the halting of decadence and the establishment of a permanent reign of fullness, would be historically transmitted, transformed, and implemented by Saint Augustine (354 AD – 430 AD) in his De civitate DeiThis work had enormous repercussions for both Christianity and modernity. It is important to note the dual apologetic and political intention of Augustine of Hippo's text. Written after the Visigothic invasion of Rome, in a climate hostile to Christianity, which was being accused of causing the decline of the Roman Empire, Augustine attempts to separate the History of Salvation, which he sees as the history of the divine city, the heavenly Jerusalem, from the History of Rome, the earthly city, whose destruction was due to the actions of men, not God himself. Each of these cities was governed by different laws: the earthly one, founded on humanity's love of itself to the point of contempt for God; the divine one, on love of God to the point of self-contempt. According to this dual legality, Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise because to love themselves to the point of despising GodHowever, their pride is forgiven by God, who grants them a new opportunity to exercise their freedom to love themselves or to love Him. This time they choose well, giving rise to the possibility of human history as an infinite task for the realization of the City of God on earth. However, it will be their sons, the human beings personified in Cain and Abel, who will found the two cities of men: Cain, founder of the earthly City guided by his pride; and his brother Abel, through his humility, founder of the City of God on earth. The story narrated by Augustine is the story of Providence, the driving force of historical development, whose existence does not negate human freedom, since it is not a fatalistic story. Within the framework of this providentialist history, the decline of the human race, represented by the fall of Rome, does not correspond to a necessary process, but is caused by the unchristian behavior of the Romans, who allowed themselves to be corrupted and indulged in excessive pride.hybris).

This type of providentialist history, according to which both the rise and fall of states or empires are under the sign of Providence, is inherited by the Christian tradition. One of its fundamental receptions is the Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle of Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704). In the first part of the work, titled Les EpoquesIn the second part, Bossuet summarizes Universal History up to the date of 1681. The Religion Suite, presents a series of lessons on religion in which he revisits the political meaning present in De civitate Dei distinguishing the institution of the Church, God's vicarious power on Earth, which would remain unscathed, from the temporal empire of earthly states mired in decadence; also in this second part, Bossuet attacks the doctrine of authors such as Spinoza, who would have denied the existence of miracles or divine interventions of God in the world, subjecting it to the same laws of Nature (Deus sive natura). The third part, Les EmpiresThis work falls strictly within the genre of the Philosophy of History. In this final part, Bossuet explains the causes of the rise and fall of human empires according to divine will. It is important to understand that, in this providentialist view, the history of the Romans is merely an episode in world history, and that the Roman people and Empire are simply instruments at the service of Providence. From this perspective, if it was necessary for the world to become Roman, it was to facilitate the spread of Christianity; that is, the Empire's evolution was at the service of Christianity, whose superiority was demonstrated by its ability to expand beyond the Empire's fall. Bossuet's narrative, written by the tutor of Louis XIV, also has a utilitarian and pedagogical purpose, as it aims to instruct the princes and sovereigns of France.

Within the same field of Philosophy of History, but with an intention contrary to that of Bossuet, we find The Discourses on the Decade of Livy, written and published by Machiavelli between 1517 and 1531. In The SpeechesMachiavelli echoes the critical trend that pointed to the institution of the Church and Christianity, adopted as the religion of the Empire by Constantine, as the main cause of Rome's decline and corruption. In a timeless framework, the explanation for the Empire's decline would also apply to Italy in his own time. According to Machiavelli, the institution of the Church was the cause of the lack of political unification of the Italian territories.

From the 16th century onward, one of the most frequent literary devices used to explain the causes of the decline of nations was the comparison with Rome—whether in the form of the Republic or the Empire—as a great figure, sometimes representing the success, sometimes the failure, of a political form and regime. Heirs to this tradition of thought are the Considerations on the causes of the greatness of the Romans and their declineMontesquieu's *The Philosophy of History* (1734) is a secular, not theological, history that, unlike the works of Saint Augustine and Bossuet, analyzes the human causes that led to the rise and fall of Rome. In this way, Montesquieu attributes Rome's greatness to the exercise of different virtues by its various political bodies: the wisdom of the early legislators, the prudence of the senate, and the civic virtue of the citizens are said to have led Rome to its moment of splendor; while among the factors that caused the decline of the Roman people were the exercise of... hybris The state's excessive expansion led to its downfall, as did its succumbing to luxury, sowing civil discord among the people, and the establishment of a tyrannical government by the early emperors. For Montesquieu, the crux of the matter lies in the human nature of the vices and virtues practiced by the Romans, and ultimately, in their abandonment of liberty for despotism. The Considerations Montesquieu's works are a key work for political history; among his privileged readers and commentators are Frederick II of Prussia and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Decline is the other side of progress, which is why it is equally necessary to refer to the debate on the relationship between material and moral progress of humankind, a constant throughout the 18th century. This debate led to the prize offered by the Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters of Dijon in 1750 for the best essay that answered the question of whether the development of the sciences and arts contributes to improving human morality. One of the most frequent ways of articulating this dialectical relationship is to take Greece and Rome as examples. This is precisely the strategy followed by Rousseau, winner of the prize with his Speech on the sciences and the arts In this essay, he answers negatively to the question of whether the development of the arts and sciences contributes to moral progress. To justify his assertion, he uses examples from Greece and Rome that point to idleness and luxury as the main causes of the corruption of morals and the undermining of military virtue. In Rousseau's words: "As the comforts of life multiply, as the arts are perfected, and as luxury spreads, true courage weakens and military virtues fade away, all this being the work of the sciences and the arts."

Another monumental work that must be included in this debate on the relationship between material progress and moral progress is The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788) by the English historian Edward Gibbon, in which Rome appears as an example to illustrate how religion and barbarism would always be behind the ruin of every political regime. In Gibbon's work, the hypothesis that barbarian invasions were behind the fall of Rome is complemented by the thesis, already present in Rousseau, that Christianity was the main element of corruption of the virtus Roman civil and military. As Gibbon himself states: "Since happiness in a life future "It is the great object of religion, we can hear without surprise or scandal that the introduction, or at least the abuse of Christianity, had some influence on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire." The second of the main causes of Rome's decline would again be, according to Gibbon, the culture of luxury, which had already been harshly criticized by both Montesquieu and Rousseau.

In conclusion, "decline" is used to describe the human species through various theories of corruption and degeneration; within a cyclical framework, it is described as a process of degeneration, both of the human species and of different political regimes; within a linear framework, decline foreshadows the fall and expulsion from the theological paradise, but also the pérdida of the literary golden age. From a fatalistic perspective, decline is absolutely necessary; from a voluntarist and eschatological perspective, it is possible to reverse it through a heroic act. For providential history, the decline, both of particular histories and of the general history of humankind, is subject to Providence and would therefore, ultimately, be unintelligible to human intelligence, which is finite and limited by nature. Finally, the critical approach of the Philosophy of History allows us to compare the different historical discourses on decline, both of humankind and of different political regimes, and to relativize the value of the term "decline" itself, relating it to its supposed opposite, "progress."

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Index of illustrations:

Fig. 1: Icon depicting Constantine presiding over the First Council of Nicaea (325) and anachronistically bearing the text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the form adopted at the First Council of Constantinople (381), with the initial πιστεύομεν (we believe) replaced by πιστεύω (I believe), as in the liturgy. Public domain.

Fig. 2: Digitized image of page 1161 of the History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. British LibraryPublic domain.