The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume III Quotes

“The favorable omen inspired an assurance of victory; the siege was renewed and prosecuted with fresh vigor; a large breach was made in the part of the wall from whence the stork had taken her flight; the Huns mounted to the assault with irresistible fury; and the succeeding generation could scarcely discover the ruins of Aquileia.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The ambassadors had encamped on the edge of a large morass.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.”
― Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“By the Venetians, the use of gunpowder was communicated without reproach to the sultans of Egypt and Persia, their allies against the Ottoman power; the secret was soon propagated to the extremities of Asia; and the advantage of the European was confined to his easy victories over the savages of the new world. If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind.”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 3: 1185-1453

“It may therefore be of some use to borrow the experience of the same Abdalrahman, whose magnificence has perhaps excited our admiration and envy, and to transcribe an authentic memorial which was found in the closet of the deceased caliph. “I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honours, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to FOURTEEN:—O man! place not thy confidence in this present world!”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 3: 1185-1453

“Every advantage appeared to be on the side of the white faction: the authority of established government; an army of an hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, against a sixth part of that number; and the presence and merit of the caliph Mervan, the fourteenth and last of the house of Ommiyah. Before his accession to the throne, he had deserved, by his Georgian warfare, the honourable epithet of the ass of Mesopotamia;27 and he might have been ranked among the greatest princes, had not, says Abulfeda, the eternal order decreed that moment for the ruin of his family: a decree against which all human prudence and fortitude must struggle in vain.”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 3: 1185-1453

“be apprehensive of delations, which, as a subject, I have always condemned, and, as a prince, will severely punish.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“Deep gaming was one of the vices of the court: the emperor, who, by chance or contrivance, had gained from Maximus a considerable sum, uncourteously exacted his ring as a security for the debt; and sent it by a trusty messenger to his wife, with an order, in her husband's name, that she should immediately attend the empress Eudoxia.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“A republican spirit was insensibly revived in the senate, as their authority, and even their supplies, became necessary for the support of his feeble government.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The palace of Attila, with the old country of Dacia, from the Carpathian hills to the Euxine, became the seat of a new power, which was erected by Ardaric, king of the Gepid?.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The demand was again rejected, or eluded; and the indignant lover immediately took the field, passed the Alps, invaded Italy, and besieged Aquileia with an innumerable host of Barbarians.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“They massacred their hostages, as well as their captives: two hundred young maidens were tortured with exquisite and unrelenting rage; their bodies were torn asunder by wild horses, or their bones were crushed under the weight of rolling wagons; and their unburied limbs were abandoned on the public roads, as a prey to dogs and vultures.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“I myself," continued Attila, "will throw the first javelin, and the wretch who refuses to imitate the example of his sovereign, is devoted to inevitable death.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“It is the aid of God!" exclaimed the bishop, in a tone of pious confidence; and the whole multitude repeated after him, "It is the aid of God.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“By the specious professions of gratitude and voluntary attachment, the patrician might disguise his apprehensions of the Scythian conqueror, who pressed the two empires with his innumerable armies.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The fortunate ?tius, who was immediately promoted to the rank of patrician, and thrice invested with the honors of the consulship, assumed, with the title of master of the cavalry and infantry, the whole military power of the state;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“Attila, my lord, and thy lord, commands thee to provide a palace for his immediate reception.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“A solemn embassy, armed with full powers and magnificent gifts, was hastily sent to deprecate the wrath of Attila; and his pride was gratified by the choice of Nomius and Anatolius, two ministers of consular or patrician rank, of whom the one was great treasurer, and the other was master-general of the armies of the East.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The emperor" (said Attila) "has long promised him a rich wife: Constantius must not be disappointed; nor should a Roman emperor deserve the name of liar.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“He was sternly forbid to pitch his tents in a pleasant valley, lest he should infringe the distant awe that was due to the royal mansion.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“In the siege of Viminiacum, he had lost, according to his own account, his fortune and liberty; he became the slave of Onegesius; but his faithful services, against the Romans and the Acatzires, had gradually raised him to the rank of the native Huns; to whom he was attached by the domestic pledges of a new wife and several children. The spoils of war had restored and improved his private property; he was admitted to the table of his former lord; and the apostate Greek blessed the hour of his captivity, since it had been the introduction to a happy and independent state;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“But the most casual provocation, the slightest motive of caprice or convenience, often provoked them to involve a whole people in an indiscriminate massacre; and the ruin of some flourishing cities was executed with such unrelenting perseverance, that, according to their own expression, horses might run, without stumbling, over the ground where they had once stood.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The Romans of the East were not less apprehensive of the arms of Rugilas, which threatened the provinces, or even the capital. Some ecclesiastical historians have destroyed the Barbarians with lightning and pestilence; but Theodosius was reduced to the more humble expedient of stipulating an annual payment of three hundred and fifty pounds of gold, and of disguising this dishonorable tribute by the title of general, which the king of the Huns condescended to accept. The public tranquillity was frequently interrupted by the fierce impatience of the Barbarians, and the perfidious intrigues of the Byzantine court.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The untimely death of John compelled him to accept an advantageous treaty; but he still continued, the subject and the soldier of Valentinian, to entertain a secret, perhaps a treasonable, correspondence with his Barbarian allies, whose retreat had been purchased by liberal gifts, and more liberal promises.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The emperor, chosen by the Roman senate, who had been promoted, degraded, insulted, restored, again degraded, and again insulted, was finally abandoned to his fate; but when the Gothic king withdrew his protection, he was restrained, by pity or contempt, from offering any violence to the person of Attalus.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“Some portion of the Gothic treasures might be the gift of friendship, or the tribute of obedience; but the far greater part had been the fruits of war and rapine, the spoils of the empire, and perhaps of Rome.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“But they had imbibed, in the first fervor of the reformation, the spirit, as well as the principles of Luther.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“Several of the gates were cautiously opened; the importation of provisions from the river and the adjacent country was no longer obstructed by the Goths; the citizens resorted in crowds to the free market, which was held during three days in the suburbs; and while the merchants who undertook this gainful trade made a considerable profit, the future subsistence of the city was secured by the ample magazines which were deposited in the public and private granaries.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is perfectly understood; and it has happened, that in the same house, though in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable design of overreaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to declare, at the same time, their mutual, but contradictory, intentions.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3

“It is allowed as a salutary maxim, that the light and frivolous suspicion of a contagious malady, is of sufficient weight to excuse the visits of the most intimate friends; and even the servants, who are despatched to make the decent inquiries, are not suffered to return home, till they have undergone the ceremony of a previous ablution.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 3