The history of empires is the record of human misery; the history of the sciences is that of the greatness and happiness… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The character of the tribunes was, in every respect, different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Whatever evils either reason or declamation have imputed to extensive empire, the power of Rome was attended with some beneficial consequences to… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In populous cities, which are the seat of commerce and manufactures, the middle ranks of inhabitants, who derive their subsistence from the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
At the hour of midnight the Salerian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“[A historian] will more seriously deplore the loss of the Byzantine libraries, which were destroyed or scattered in the general confusion: one… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
This variety of objects will suspend, for some time, the course of the narrative; but the interruption will be censured only by… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It was with the utmost difficulty that ancient Rome could support the institution of six vestals; but the primitive church was filled… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Instructed by history and reflection, Julian was persuaded that, if the diseases of the body may sometimes be cured by salutary violence,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The complaints of contemporary writes, who deplore the increase of luxury and deprevation of manners, are commonly expressive of their peculiar temper… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
During the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently or designedly, performed the manumission of a slave in the presence of the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The single combats of the heroes of history or fable amuse our fancy and engage our affections: the skillful evolutions of war… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A small number of temples was protected by the fears, the venality, the taste, or the prudence of the civil and ecclesiastical… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
History has scarcely deigned to notice [Libius Severus's] birth, his elevation, his character, or his death. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“The uncommon abilities and fortune of Severus have induced an elegant historian to compare him with the first and greatest of the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] events by which the fate of nations is not materially changed, leave a faint impression on the page of history, and… — 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
History should be to the political economist a wellspring of experience and wisdom. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if… — 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
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