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The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon.
Text mostly from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
maintained by @byrnedhead.artorias.expert
Text mostly from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
maintained by @byrnedhead.artorias.expert
Such were the guardians of the holy city; a leper, a child, a woman, a coward, and a traitor.
December 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Such were the guardians of the holy city; a leper, a child, a woman, a coward, and a traitor.
But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times.
December 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times.
The Christians, who had now possessed above forty years the civil and ecclesiastical government of the empire, had contracted the insolent vices of prosperity, and the habit of believing that the saints alone were entitled to reign over the earth.
December 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
The Christians, who had now possessed above forty years the civil and ecclesiastical government of the empire, had contracted the insolent vices of prosperity, and the habit of believing that the saints alone were entitled to reign over the earth.
The dull and obstinate understanding of Gallus embraced, with implicit zeal, the doctrines of Christianity; which never influenced his conduct, or moderated his passions.
December 13, 2025 at 1:51 PM
The dull and obstinate understanding of Gallus embraced, with implicit zeal, the doctrines of Christianity; which never influenced his conduct, or moderated his passions.
In a state of society, in which policy is rude and valor is universal, the ascendant of one man must be founded on his power and resolution to punish his enemies and recompense his friends.
December 10, 2025 at 1:40 PM
In a state of society, in which policy is rude and valor is universal, the ascendant of one man must be founded on his power and resolution to punish his enemies and recompense his friends.
...and we learn from the evidence of his enemies, that the king of England, grasping his lance, rode furiously along their front, from the right to the left wing, without meeting an adversary who dared to encounter his career. Am I writing the history of Orlando or Amadis?
December 6, 2025 at 2:20 PM
...and we learn from the evidence of his enemies, that the king of England, grasping his lance, rode furiously along their front, from the right to the left wing, without meeting an adversary who dared to encounter his career. Am I writing the history of Orlando or Amadis?
But this reign could subsist only in empty pageantry; and it was soon discovered that the will of the most absolute monarch is seldom obeyed, when his subjects have no longer anything to hope from his favor, or to dread from his resentment.
December 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
But this reign could subsist only in empty pageantry; and it was soon discovered that the will of the most absolute monarch is seldom obeyed, when his subjects have no longer anything to hope from his favor, or to dread from his resentment.
A particular inspector was appointed for the statues; the guardian, as it were, of that inanimate people, which, according to the extravagant computation of an old writer, was scarcely inferior in number to the living inhabitants of Rome.
November 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM
A particular inspector was appointed for the statues; the guardian, as it were, of that inanimate people, which, according to the extravagant computation of an old writer, was scarcely inferior in number to the living inhabitants of Rome.
The triumphal arch of Constantine still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity.
November 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
The triumphal arch of Constantine still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity.
A secret but universal decay was felt in every part of the public administration, and the emperor himself, though he still retained the obedience, gradually lost the esteem, of his subjects.
November 23, 2025 at 1:14 PM
A secret but universal decay was felt in every part of the public administration, and the emperor himself, though he still retained the obedience, gradually lost the esteem, of his subjects.
The writer who should impute these tumults solely to a religious principle, would betray a very imperfect knowledge of human nature.
November 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The writer who should impute these tumults solely to a religious principle, would betray a very imperfect knowledge of human nature.
...the incoherent dreams of the emperor [Constantius II] were received as celestial visions, and he accepted with complacency the lofty title of bishop of bishops, from those ecclesiastics who forgot the interest of their order for the gratification of their passions.
November 15, 2025 at 2:03 PM
...the incoherent dreams of the emperor [Constantius II] were received as celestial visions, and he accepted with complacency the lofty title of bishop of bishops, from those ecclesiastics who forgot the interest of their order for the gratification of their passions.
Secure of impunity, careless of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble society of their slaves and parasites. The emperor...viewing every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous indifference, asserted without control his sovereign privilege of lust and luxury.
November 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Secure of impunity, careless of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble society of their slaves and parasites. The emperor...viewing every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous indifference, asserted without control his sovereign privilege of lust and luxury.
The military command of the East was bestowed, by the same influence, on Sabinian, a wealthy and subtle veteran, who had attained the infirmities, without acquiring the experience, of age.
November 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The military command of the East was bestowed, by the same influence, on Sabinian, a wealthy and subtle veteran, who had attained the infirmities, without acquiring the experience, of age.
When the tyrant Caligula was suspected of an intention to invest a very extraordinary candidate with the consular robes, the sacrilegious profanation would have scarcely excited less astonishment, if, instead of a horse, the noblest chieftain of Germany or Britain had been the object of his choice.
November 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM
When the tyrant Caligula was suspected of an intention to invest a very extraordinary candidate with the consular robes, the sacrilegious profanation would have scarcely excited less astonishment, if, instead of a horse, the noblest chieftain of Germany or Britain had been the object of his choice.
The vast countries which the Roman conquerors had united under the same form of administration, were imperceptibly crumbled into minute fragments; till at length the whole empire was distributed into one hundred and sixteen provinces, each of which supported an expensive and splendid establishment.
November 1, 2025 at 1:24 PM
The vast countries which the Roman conquerors had united under the same form of administration, were imperceptibly crumbled into minute fragments; till at length the whole empire was distributed into one hundred and sixteen provinces, each of which supported an expensive and splendid establishment.
The little kingdom of Bosphorus, whose capital was situated on the Straits, through which the Mæotis communicates itself to the Euxine, was composed of degenerate Greeks and half-civilized barbarians.
October 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The little kingdom of Bosphorus, whose capital was situated on the Straits, through which the Mæotis communicates itself to the Euxine, was composed of degenerate Greeks and half-civilized barbarians.
The abdication of Diocletian and Maximian was succeeded by eighteen years of discord and confusion.
October 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The abdication of Diocletian and Maximian was succeeded by eighteen years of discord and confusion.
This unfavorable picture, though not devoid of a faint resemblance, betrays, by its dark coloring and distorted features, the pencil of an enemy.
October 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
This unfavorable picture, though not devoid of a faint resemblance, betrays, by its dark coloring and distorted features, the pencil of an enemy.
The inland parts have assumed the Sclavonian names of Croatia and Bosnia...but the whole country is still infested by tribes of barbarians, whose savage independence irregularly marks the doubtful limit of the Christian and Mahometan power.
October 19, 2025 at 12:48 PM
The inland parts have assumed the Sclavonian names of Croatia and Bosnia...but the whole country is still infested by tribes of barbarians, whose savage independence irregularly marks the doubtful limit of the Christian and Mahometan power.
But every principle which had once maintained the vigor and purity of Rome and Sparta, was long since extinguished in a declining and despotic empire.
October 16, 2025 at 1:21 PM
But every principle which had once maintained the vigor and purity of Rome and Sparta, was long since extinguished in a declining and despotic empire.
Of the nineteen tyrants who started up under the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who enjoyed a life of peace, or a natural death.
October 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Of the nineteen tyrants who started up under the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who enjoyed a life of peace, or a natural death.
Enraged by their former servitude, elated by their present glory, the slaves, under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the possession of the country which they had saved. Their masters...preferred the hardships of exile to the tyranny of their servants.
October 8, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Enraged by their former servitude, elated by their present glory, the slaves, under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the possession of the country which they had saved. Their masters...preferred the hardships of exile to the tyranny of their servants.
A mind thus relaxed by prosperity and indulgence, was incapable of rising to that magnanimity which disdains suspicion, and dares to forgive.
October 5, 2025 at 1:04 PM
A mind thus relaxed by prosperity and indulgence, was incapable of rising to that magnanimity which disdains suspicion, and dares to forgive.
As the sense of liberty became less exquisite, the advantages of order were more clearly understood; and the prefect, who seemed to have been designed as a terror only to slaves and vagrants, was permitted to extend his civil and criminal jurisdiction over the equestrian and noble families of Rome.
October 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
As the sense of liberty became less exquisite, the advantages of order were more clearly understood; and the prefect, who seemed to have been designed as a terror only to slaves and vagrants, was permitted to extend his civil and criminal jurisdiction over the equestrian and noble families of Rome.