DeclineAndFall

Quotes from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1789) by Edward Gibbon.

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So rapid were the motions of the Persian cavalry that, if we may credit a very judicious historian, the city of Antioch was surprised when the idle multitude was fondly gazing on the amusements of the theater.

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Valerian was reduced to the necessity of entrusting his life and dignity to the faith of an enemy. The interview ended as it was natural to expect. The emperor was made a prisoner, and his astonished troops laid down their arms.

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An immense sum of gold was offered to purchase the permission of a disgraceful retreat.

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The licentious murmurs of the legions soon accused Valerian as the cause of their calamities; their seditious clamors demanded an instant capitulation.

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The particulars of this great event are darkly and imperfectly represented; yet, by the glimmering light which is afforded us, we may discover a long series of imprudence, of error, and of deserved misfortunes on the side of the Roman emperor.

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The loss of an important frontier, the ruin of a faithful and natural ally, and the rapid success of Sapor’s ambition affected Rome with a deep sense of the insult as well as of the danger.

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In the most polite and powerful nations, genius of every kind has displayed itself about the same period; and the age of science has generally been the age of military virtue and success. [3/3]

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We are told that in the sack of Athens the Goths had collected all the libraries and were on the point of setting fire to this funeral pile of Grecian learning, had not one of their chiefs, of more refined policy than his brethren, dissuaded them from the design [1/3]

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by the profound observation, that as long as the Greeks were addicted to the study of books, they would never apply themselves to the exercise of arms. The sagacious counselor (should the truth of the fact be admitted) reasoned like an ignorant Barbarian. [2/3]

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In the general calamities of mankind, the death of an individual, however exalted, the ruin of an edifice, however famous, are passed over with careless inattention.

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...and as long as they were indulged in the enjoyment of their baths, their theaters, and their villas, they cheerfully resigned the more dangerous cares of empire to the rough hands of peasants and soldiers. (2/2)

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The rich and luxurious nobles, sinking into their natural character, accepted as a favor this disgraceful exemption from military service...
(1/2)

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The hasty army of volunteers gradually coalesced into a great and permanent nation and, as it was composed from so many different tribes, assumed the name of Alemanni, or Allmen; to denote at once their various lineage and their common bravery.

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Valerian was about sixty years of age when he was invested with the purple, not by the caprice of the populace or the clamors of the army, but by the unanimous voice of the Roman world.

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The tranquility which the empire enjoyed during the first year of his administration served rather to inflame than to appease the public discontent; and as soon as the apprehensions of war were removed, the infamy of the peace was more deeply and more sensibly felt.

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Apprehensive of the ignominious approach of disease and infirmity, he resolved to expire as became a warrior. In a solemn assembly of the Swedes and Goths, he wounded himself in nine mortal places, hastening away to prepare the feast of heroes in the palace of the god of war.

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Numerous tribes on either side of the Baltic were subdued by the invincible valor of Odin, by his persuasive eloquence, and by the fame which he acquired of a most skillful magician.

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In the general festival that was solemnized every ninth year, nine animals of every species (without excepting the human) were sacrificed and their bleeding bodies suspended in the sacred grove adjacent to the temple.

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So memorable was the part which they acted in the subversion of the Western empire that the name of GOTHS is frequently but improperly used as a general appellation of rude and warlike barbarism.

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The confusion of the times, and the scarcity of authentic memorials, oppose equal difficulties to the historian who attempts to preserve a clear and unbroken thread of narration.