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3340de0
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The public highways, which had been constructed for the use of the legions, opened an easy passage for the Christians missionaries from Damascus to Corinth, and from Italy to the extremity of Spain or Britain; nor did those spiritual conquerors encounter any of the obstacles which usually retard or prevent the introduction of a foreign religion into a distant country.
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Edward Gibbon |
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2d39b67
|
According to the maxims of universal toleration, the Romans protected a superstition which they despised.
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Edward Gibbon |
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9592448
|
The conquest of the land of Canaan was accompanied with so many wonderful and so many bloody circumstances, that the victorious Jews were left in a state of irreconcilable hostility with all their neighbours.
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Edward Gibbon |
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526e06e
|
The descendants of Abraham were flattered by the opinion, that they alone were the heirs of the covenant, and they were apprehensive of diminishing the value of their inheritance, by sharing it too easily with the strangers of the earth.
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Edward Gibbon |
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2c0f073
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the most sublime efforts of philosophy can extend no farther than feebly to point out the desire, the hope, or, at most, the probability, of a future state, there is nothing, except a divine revelation, that can ascertain the existence, and describe the condition of the invisible country which is destined to receive the souls of men after their separation from the body.
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faith
religion
eternal-life
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Edward Gibbon |
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044eea6
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during the long period which elapsed between the Egyptian and the Babylonian servitudes, the hopes as well as fears of the Jews appear to have been confined within the narrow compass of the present life.
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judaism
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Edward Gibbon |
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2e0af66
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When Christianity was introduced among the rich and the polite, the observation of these singular laws was left, as it would be at present, to the few who were ambitious of superior sanctity. But it is always easy, as well as agreeable, for the inferior ranks of mankind to claim a merit from the contempt of that pomp and pleasure, which fortune has placed beyond their reach. The virtue of the primitive Christians, like that of the first Rom..
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Edward Gibbon |
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1031116
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He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers." ^15"
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Edward Gibbon |
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d472984
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and it was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline, that a good soldier should dread his officers far more than the enemy.
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Edward Gibbon |
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85d10f6
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lqd Hkmt lbld lmd@ 'rb`yn `m ... mrhwb mn '`dy'y ... mHbwb mn 'Sdqy'y ... mHtrm mn khSwmy ... lm y`wzny shy mn ln`ym l'rDy ... w lkn lqd qmt bHS `dd l'ym lty knt s`yd fyh s`d@ Hqyqy@ bdq@ blG@ ... lqd 'rbt `ly l'rb`@ `shr ywm ... 'yh lnsn l tD` thqtk fy hdh l`lm l'rDy" `bd lrHmn (lnSr) nql `n jybwn"
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Edward Gibbon |
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a8ff29e
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unchecked power corrupts.
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Edward Gibbon |
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64423ee
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During many ages, the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplishment.
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Edward Gibbon |
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3a712a4
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In their censures of luxury, the fathers are extremely minute and circumstantial;89 and among the various articles which excite their pious indignation, we may enumerate false hair, garments of any colour except white, instruments of music, vases of gold or silver, downy pillows (as Jacob reposed his head on a stone), white bread, foreign wines, public salutations, the use of warm baths, and the practice of shaving the beard, which, accordi..
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Edward Gibbon |
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d797ae2
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The gates were thrown open by their companions upon guard, and by the domestics of the old court, who had already formed a secret conspiracy against the life of the too virtuous emperor. On the news of their approach, Pertinax, disdaining either flight or concealment, advanced to meet his assassins; and recalled to their minds his own innocence, and the sanctity of their recent oath. For a few moments they stood in silent suspense, ashamed ..
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Edward Gibbon |
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d8bae65
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the fundamental maxim of Artistotle, that true virtue is placed at an equal distance between the opposite vices.
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Edward Gibbon |
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8973242
|
A regard for the public tranquillity, which would so frequently have been interrupted by annual or by occasional elections, induced the primitive Christians to constitute an honourable and perpetual magistracy, and to choose one of the wisest and most holy among their presbyters to execute, during his life, the duties of their ecclesiastical governor. It was under these circumstances that the lofty title of Bishop began to raise itself abov..
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Edward Gibbon |
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04e9a60
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The knowledge that is suited to our situation and powers, the whole compass of moral, natural, and mathematical science, was neglected by the new Platonists; whilst they exhausted their strength in the verbal disputes of metaphysics, attempted to explore the secrets of the invisible world, and studied to reconcile Aristotle with Plato, on subjects of which both these philosophers were as ignorant as the rest of mankind.
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Edward Gibbon |
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20cbdc6
|
The generality of princes, if they were stripped of their purple, and cast naked into the world, would immediately sink to the lowest rank of society, without a hope of emerging from their obscurity.
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Edward Gibbon |
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cfa08fd
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Once the monarchy was abolished, a decree was passed that there would be no more kings in Rome.
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Edward Gibbon |
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524d2b7
|
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.
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Edward Gibbon |
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9b55a16
|
But as truth and reason seldom find so favourable a reception in the world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions of the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind, as instruments to execute its purpose; we may still be permitted, though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian church. It
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Edward Gibbon |
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55402d9
|
The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government.
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Edward Gibbon |
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0c35394
|
Stripped of the diadem and purple, clothed in a vile habit, and loaded with chains, he was transported in a small boat to the Imperial galley of Heraclius, who reproached him with the crimes of his abominable reign. "Wilt thou govern better?" were the last words of the despair of Phocas."
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Edward Gibbon |
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55c1f9b
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A reformer should be exempt from the suspicion of interest, and he must possess the confidence and esteem of those whom he proposes to reclaim.
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Edward Gibbon |
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10eaeef
|
On solemn festivals, Julian, who felt and professed an unfashionable dislike to these frivolous amusements, condescended to appear in the Circus; and, after bestowing a careless glance on five or six of the races, he hastily withdrew with the impatience of a philosopher, who considered every moment as lost that was not devoted to the advantage of the public or the improvement of his own mind.
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philosophy
leasure
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Edward Gibbon |
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c54e269
|
The great work of Gibbon is indispensable to the student of history. The literature of Europe offers no substitute for "The"
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Edward Gibbon |
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b76d4cd
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so intimate is the connexion between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people.
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Edward Gibbon |
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ac1c0d1
|
Most of the crimes which disturb the internal peace of society are produced by the restraints which the necessary, but unequal, laws of property have imposed on the appetites of mankind, by confining to a few the possession of those objects that are coveted by many. Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submission of the multitude. In the ..
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180
covetousness
power-corrupts
wealth-disparity
property-rights
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Edward Gibbon |
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f8f733d
|
The narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture, the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune, and hastened the ruin, of Athens and Sparta. The aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honorable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own wheresoever they were found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or barbarians.
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Edward Gibbon |
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3abd45f
|
Another d-mn'd thick, square book! Always, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?
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Edward Gibbon |
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9d6d210
|
The attack of a man, equipped with erudition, and of perfectly sober judgment, on cherished beliefs and revered institutions, must always excite the interest, by irritating the passions, of men.
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Edward Gibbon |
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b3c126f
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but it was reserved for Augustus to relinquish the ambitious design of subduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of moderation into the public councils. Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for him to discover that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much less to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the..
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Edward Gibbon |
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dc32f78
|
In the cool shade of retirement, we may easily devise imaginary forms of government, in which the sceptre shall be constantly bestowed on the most worthy, by the free and incorrupt suffrage of the whole community. Experience overturns these airy fabrics, and teaches us, that in a large society, the election of a monarch can never devolve to the wisest, or to the most numerous part of the people. The army is the only order of men sufficientl..
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Edward Gibbon |
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4083fc5
|
Twenty-two acknowledged concubines and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes attested the variety of his inclinations; and from the productions he left behind him, it appears the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than ostentation.
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Edward Gibbon |
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f523a43
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whose one hundred and twenty-nine homilies are still extant, if what no one reads may be said to be extant.]
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Edward Gibbon |
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ca16340
|
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
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Edward Gibbon |
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fc1a440
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Decent easy men, who supinely enjoyed the gifts of the founder.
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Edward Gibbon |
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712d7a8
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It was here [at the age of seventeen] that I suspended my religious inquiries.
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Edward Gibbon |
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a5800ea
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I saw and loved.
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Edward Gibbon |
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f573e4e
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I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.
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Edward Gibbon |
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e6fd4bc
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Crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.
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Edward Gibbon |
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22bd91a
|
The captain of the Hampshire grenadiers...has not been useless to the historian of the Roman Empire.
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Edward Gibbon |