That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The orator, who may be silent without danger, may praise without difficulty and without reluctance; and posterity will confess that the character… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] operation of the wisest laws is imperfect and precarious. They seldom inspire virtue, they cannot always restrain vice. — 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
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
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 laws of war, that restrain the exercise of national rapine and murder, are founded on two principles of substantial interest: the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[We should] suspend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the use of arms was reserved for those ranks of citizens who had a country… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The books of jurisprudence were interesting to few, and entertaining to none: their value was connected with present use, and they sunk… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A Locrian, who proposed any new law, stood forth in the assembly of the people with a cord round his neck, and… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times . . . — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The law of nature instructs most animals to cherish and educate their infant progeny. The law of reason inculcates to the human… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Women [in ancient Rome] were condemned to the perpetual tutelage of parents, husbands, or guardians; a sex created to please and obey… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In this primitive and abject state [of hunters and gatherers], which ill deserves the name of society, the human brute, without arts… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In the most rigorous [Roman] laws, a wife was condemned to support a gamester, a drunkard, or a libertine, unless he were… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far that or any other… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
According to the law of custom, and perhaps of reason, foreign travel completes the education of an English gentleman. — 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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![“[The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire,…” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/37b/edward-gibbon-710_community_the-penalty-of-death-was-abolished-in-th_414077.jpg)
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![“In this primitive and abject state [of hunters and gatherers],…” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/de0/edward-gibbon-710_animal_in-this-primitive-and-abject-state-of-hu_2722444.jpg)
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