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Quote by Edward Gibbon

“But in almost every province of the Roman world, an army of fanatics, without authority and without discipline, invaded the peaceful inhabitants; and the ruin of the fairest structures of antiquity still displays the ravages of those barbarians who alone had time and inclination to execute such laborious destruction.”

Quote by Edward Gibbon

Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book)

Work

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book)

This volume of Edward Gibbon's seminal work delves into the intricate details of the Roman Empire's fall, examining the political and social factors that contributed to its decline. It provides a detailed narrative of events from the reign of Theodosius I to the end of the Western Roman Empire, offering a rich tapestry of historical analysis and commentary. more

Author

Edward Gibbon was an English historian renowned for his magnum opus, 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. His work has had a profound impact on historical studies. more

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“At that time the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood.”

Men Hands Enemy History Virtue Blood Gold Filled Perpetual Thrones Roman Empire Bad Man Alexandria

Book:History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V3: the History Focus

Source: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V3: the History Focus

“The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruction of succeeding ages.”

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book)

“A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient freedom, if they had not long since been accustomed to prefer the solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty and greatness.”

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“Yet the people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is devoted to gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny.”

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition

“These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour.”

Law History Industry Safety Connected Plenty Innocence Idle Laws Of Nature Roman Empire Overlooked Valour

Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often assume the appearance and produce the effects of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the ministers of Honorius.”

Ifs May Government Enemy History Effects Produce Weak Assuming Appearance Ministers Council Distracted Pursued Roman Empire Correspondence Incapacity Public Enemies

Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition

“The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniences of life which have been invented or improved by the progress of industry; and the plenty of glass and linen has diffused more real comforts among the modern nations of Europe than the senators of Rome could derive from all the refinements of pompous or sensual luxury.”

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“In populous cities, which are the seat of commerce and manufactures, the middle ranks of inhabitants, who derive their subsistence from the dexterity or labour of their hands, are commonly the most prolific, the most useful, and, in that sense, the most respectable part of the community.”

Hands Community Cities History Middle Seats Labour Commerce Respectable Roman Empire Subsistence Dexterity

Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“At the hour of midnight the Salerian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the Imperial city, which had subdued and civilised so considerable a part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany and Scythia.”

Years Three Sound Hours Cities History Mankind Hundred Foundation Germany Gates Rome Three Years Sixty Tribes Midnight Fury Gothic Eleven Awakened Trumpets Roman Empire Civilised

Author:Edward Gibbon

“The brutal soldiers satisfied their sensual appetites without consulting either the inclination or the duties of their female captives; and a nice question of casuistry was seriously agitated, Whether those tender victims, who had inflexibly refused their consent to the violation which they sustained, had lost, by their misfortune, the glorious crown of virginity. There were other losses indeed of a more substantial kind and more general concern.”

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire