If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Discussing the attempts of Augustus' generals to add to the extent of the Roman Empire early in his reign: The northern countries… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In the various states of society, armies are recruited from very different motives. Barbarians are urged by the love of war; the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The Gauls were endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they wanted courage to defend them, they were… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The active cavalry of Scythia is always followed, in their most distant and rapid incursions, by an adequate number of spare horses,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But [the Arabs'] friendship was venal, their faith inconstant, their enmity capricious: it was an easier task to excite than to disarm… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The elegance of dress, of motion, and of manners gives a lustre to beauty, and inflames the senses through the imagination. Luxurious… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But in almost every province of the Roman world, an army of fanatics, without authority and without discipline, invaded the peaceful inhabitants;… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The barbarians of Germany had felt, and still dreaded, the arms of the young Caesar; his soldiers were the companions of his… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The peace of the Eastern church was invaded by a swarm of fanatics [monks], incapable of fear, or reason, or humanity; and… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Europe is secure from any future irruptions of Barbarians; since, before they can conquer, they must cease to be barbarous. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The Romans, who so coolly and so concisely mention the acts of justice which were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear, animated with resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are seldom in a proper temper of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Instead of a perpetual and perfect measure of the divine will, the fragments of the Koran were produced at the discretion of Mahomet; each… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West:… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[Every] hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and multiplies the resources of defensive war. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The science of the church is neglected for the study of geometry, and they lose sight of Heaven while they are employed in measuring… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image