The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 2Methuen & Company, 1909 |
Contents
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Common terms and phrases
Africa Ammian ancient Antioch apostles Asia authority Barbarians bishops Cæsar capital Carthage celebrated century character Christ Christians church civil Constantine Constantinople consuls Cyprian dæmons danger death Deity derived dignity Diocletian Dion Dion Cassius discover divine doctrine Domitian ecclesiastical edict emperor episcopal epistle Euseb Eusebius faith fathers favour frequently Galerius Gaul Gnostics gospel governors Greek Hist honours human hundred Imperial insensibly instituted Irenæus Italy Jerusalem Jewish Jews Julian justice Justin Martyr Lactantius laws magistrates Magnentius mankind martyrdom martyrs Mémoires monarch Mosaic Mosheim multitude nature obscure observed Orat Origen Pagans palace perhaps persecution persons philosophers Pliny Prætorian præfects presbyters primitive prince proconsul provinces punishment quæstor rank reign religion religious Roman empire Rome sacred Sarmatians sect seems senate Severus soon Sozomen spirit subjects superstition Tacitus temper temple Tertullian Theod Tillemont tion Trajan truth virtue worship zeal Zosimus
Popular passages
Page 24 - When the promise of eternal happiness was proposed to mankind on condition of adopting the faith and of observing the precepts of the gospel, it is no wonder that so advantageous an offer should have been accepted by great numbers of every religion, of every rank and of every province in the Roman empire.
Page 2 - Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth. To this inquiry an obvious but satisfactory answer may be returned ; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author.
Page 75 - Pliny is designed for eclipses of an extraordinary nature and unusual duration; but he contents himself with describing the singular defect of light which followed the murder of Caesar, when, during the greatest part of the year, the orb of the sun appeared pale and without splendour.
Page 5 - The contemporaries of Moses and Joshua had beheld with careless indifference the most amazing miracles. Under the pressure of every calamity, the belief of those miracles has preserved the Jews of a later period from the universal contagion of idolatry; and in contradiction to every known principle of the human mind, that singular people seems to have yielded a stronger and more ready assent to the traditions of their remote ancestors than to the evidence of their own senses.
Page 3 - The doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth.
Page 5 - When the law was given in thunder from Mount Sinai; when the tides of the ocean and the course of the planets were suspended for the convenience of the Israelites; and when temporal rewards and punishments were the immediate consequences of their piety or disobedience, they perpetually relapsed into rebellion against the visible majesty of their Divine King...
Page 151 - The winding channel through which the waters of the Euxine flow with a rapid and incessant course towards the Mediterranean received the appellation of Bosphorus, a name not less celebrated in the history than in the fables of antiquity. A crowd of temples and of votive altars, profusely scattered along its steep and woody banks, attested the unskilfulness, the terrors, and the devotion of the Grecian navigators, who, after the example of the Argonauts, explored the dangers of the inhospitable Euxine....
Page 148 - If we are obliged to submit our belief to the authority of Grotius, it must be allowed that the number of Protestants who were executed in a single province and a single reign far exceeded that of the primitive martyrs in the space of three centuries and of the Roman empire.
Page 92 - The latter may be proved by the consent of the most ancient manuscripts ; by the inimitable character of the style of Tacitus; by his reputation, which guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud ; and by the purport of his narration...
Page 36 - Their serious and sequestered life, averse to the gay luxury of the age, inured them to chastity, temperance, economy, and all the sober and domestic virtues. As the greater number were of some trade or profession, it was incumbent on them, by the strictest integrity, and the fairest dealing, to remove the suspicions which the profane are too apt to conceive against the appearance of sanctity. The contempt of the world exercised them in the habits of humility, meekness, and patience.