The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 4

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W. Pickering, London, and Talboys and Wheeler, Oxford, 1827
 

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Page 143 - The blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast The prostrate South to the destroyer yields Her boasted titles and her golden fields • With grim delight the brood of winter view A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue, Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose, And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.
Page 512 - As the happiness of & future life is the great object of religion, we may hear without surprise or scandal, that the introduction, or at least the abuse, of christianity, had some influence on the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity ; the active virtues of society were discouraged ; and the last remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister : a large portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the...
Page 67 - This scene of peace and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert; and the prospect of the smoking ruins could alone distinguish the solitude of nature from the desolation of man.
Page 518 - ... secure from any future irruption of Barbarians; since, before they can conquer, they must cease to be barbarous. Their gradual advances in the science of war would always be accompanied, as we may learn from the example of Russia, with a proportionable improvement in the arts of peace and civil policy; and they themselves must deserve a place among the polished nations whom they subdue.
Page 118 - ... populace, enervated by luxury before they were emaciated by famine. He then condescended to fix the ransom which he would accept, as the price of his retreat from the walls of Rome...
Page 511 - But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay ; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight.
Page 382 - Italy, since, in their opinion, the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade and protect, at the same time, both the East and the West." In their own name, and in the name of the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople...
Page 247 - Gothic historian, bore the stamp of his national origin; and the portrait of Attila exhibits the genuine deformity of a modern Calmuk; a large head, a swarthy complexion, small, deep-seated eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a beard, broad shoulders, and a short square body, of nervous strength, though of a disproportioned form.
Page 511 - ... ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and, instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.
Page 509 - The Greeks, after their country had been reduced into a province, imputed the triumphs of Rome, not to the merit, but to the FORTUNE, of the republic. The inconstant goddess, who so blindly distributes and resumes her favours, had now consented (such was the language of envious flattery) to resign her wings, to descend from her globe, and to fix her firm and immutable throne on the banks of the Tiber.

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