The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1J. Murray, 1887 - Byzantine Empire |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 77
Page vii
... politics , they were admitted into the pale of Grecian history ; but to Thucydides and to Xenophon , excepting in the Persian inroad of the latter , Greece was the world . Natural unity confined their narrative almost to chronological ...
... politics , they were admitted into the pale of Grecian history ; but to Thucydides and to Xenophon , excepting in the Persian inroad of the latter , Greece was the world . Natural unity confined their narrative almost to chronological ...
Page viii
... political connection ; the distinctness with which he marks his periods of gradually increasing decay ; and the skill with which , though advancing on separate parallels of history , he shows the common tendency of the slower or more ...
... political connection ; the distinctness with which he marks his periods of gradually increasing decay ; and the skill with which , though advancing on separate parallels of history , he shows the common tendency of the slower or more ...
Page xi
... political result . Gibbon's method of arrangement , though on the whole most favourable to the clear comprehension of the events , leads likewise to apparent inaccuracy . That which we expect to find in one part is reserved for another ...
... political result . Gibbon's method of arrangement , though on the whole most favourable to the clear comprehension of the events , leads likewise to apparent inaccuracy . That which we expect to find in one part is reserved for another ...
Page xxiii
... political opponents , almost without a per- sonal enemy ; who has retained , in his fall from power , many faithful and disinterested friends ; and who , under the pressure of severe infirmity , enjoys the lively vigour of his mind ...
... political opponents , almost without a per- sonal enemy ; who has retained , in his fall from power , many faithful and disinterested friends ; and who , under the pressure of severe infirmity , enjoys the lively vigour of his mind ...
Page xxix
... political opponents , almost without a per- sonal enemy ; who has retained , in his fall from power , many faithful and disinterested friends ; and who , under the pressure of severe infirmity , enjoys the lively vigour of his mind ...
... political opponents , almost without a per- sonal enemy ; who has retained , in his fall from power , many faithful and disinterested friends ; and who , under the pressure of severe infirmity , enjoys the lively vigour of his mind ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
agreeable amusement ancient Antonines Antoninus Pius arms arts Asia Augustan History Augustus barbarians BERITON Buriton Cęsar Cappadocia character Christianity church cities civil College confined conquest conversation curious death Decline and Fall Dion Cass Dion Cassius Edward Gibbon elegant emperors England English enjoyed Essay esteem exercise father favour formed fortune freedom French Gaul genius Gibbon Greek habits Hadrian Hist historian honour hundred Italy labour language Latin Lausanne learning legions letters liberal London Lord Sheffield Magdalen College manners master Memoirs merit military militia mind modern native nature never Oxford Pannonia passage perhaps philosopher pleasure political Prętorian princes provinces reign religion republic Rolvenden Roman empire Rome senate slaves society soldier soon spirit Strabo style success Syria Tacitus taste tion Trajan vanity Vegetius virtue volume writings youth
Popular passages
Page xxxii - What recks it them? What need they? They are sped; And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread : Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said: But that two-handed engine at the door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.
Page 41 - After laying down my pen. I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was silent.
Page viii - The secrets of the hoary deep; a dark Illimitable ocean, without bound, Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
Page 41 - I wrote the last lines of the last page, in a summer house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains.
Page 9 - I arrived at Oxford with a stock of erudition that might have puzzled a doctor, and a degree of ignorance of which a school-boy would have been ashamed.
Page 67 - The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful...
Page 45 - ... and experience of the sage Fontenelle. His choice is approved by the eloquent historian of nature, who fixes our moral happiness to the mature season, in which our passions are supposed to be calmed, our duties fulfilled, our ambition satisfied, our fame and fortune established on a solid basis.
Page 28 - It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,* that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Page 5 - Their conversation stagnated in a round of college business, Tory politics, personal anecdotes, and private scandal : their dull and deep potations excused the brisk intemperance of youth...