History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6 Quotes

“the ancient tribunes, so strong and sacred in the public opinion, were not distinguished in style, habit, or appearance, from an ordinary plebeian;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“the younger Andronicus was speedily corrupted by his infant greatness,”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Fire is the most powerful agent of life and death: the rapid mischief may be kindled and propagated by the industry or negligence of mankind;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the character of justice; his profusion, of liberality; his obstinacy, of firmness. If the most reasonable excuse be rejected, few acts of obedience will be found impossible; and guilt must tremble, where innocence cannot always be secure. The tranquillity of the people, and the discipline of the troops, were best maintained by perpetual action in the field; war was the trade of the Janizaries;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“The royal founder reigned over the most illustrious nations of the globe; and in the accomplishment of his designs, the power of the Romans was combined with the art and science of the Greeks. Other cities have been reared to maturity by accident and time: their beauties are mingled with disorder and deformity; and the inhabitants, unwilling to remove from their natal spot, are incapable of correcting the errors of their ancestors, and the original vices of situation or climate. But the free idea of Constantinople was formed and executed by a single mind; and the primitive model was improved by the obedient zeal of the subjects and successors of the first monarch.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“I was a student of the civil law; but my soul was inflamed with the love of letters;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“My son deems himself a great and heroic prince; but, alas! our miserable age does not afford scope for heroism or greatness. His daring spirit might have suited the happier times of our ancestors; but the present state requires not an emperor, but a cautious steward of the last relics of our fortunes.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Too idle to work, too proud to beg, the mercenaries were accustomed to a life of rapine: they could rob with more dignity and effect under a banner and a chief; and the sovereign, to whom their service was useless, and their presence importunate, endeavored to discharge the torrent on some neighboring countries.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“I shall not, I trust, be accused of superstition; but I must remark that, even in this world, the natural order of events will sometimes afford the strong appearances of moral retribution.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Baldwin, was awakened by the sound; but the most pressing danger could not prompt him to draw his sword in the defence of a city which he deserted, perhaps, with more pleasure than regret: he fled from the palace to the seashore, where he descried the welcome sails of the fleet returning from the vain and fruitless attempt on Daphnusia.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Their reputation and their language encouraged them, however, to despise the ignorance and to overlook the progress of the Latins. 93 In the love of the arts, the national difference was still more obvious and real; the Greeks preserved with reverence the works of their ancestors, which they could not imitate;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Bigotry and national aversion are powerful magnifiers of every object of dispute;”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“he united the virtues of a king, a hero, and a man; that his martial spirit was tempered by the love of private and public justice; and that Louis was the father of his people, the friend of his neighbors, and the terror of the infidels.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Philip was brave, but the statesman predominated in his character; he was soon weary of sacrificing his health and interest on a barren coast:”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“Ambition is a weed of quick and early vegetation in the vineyard of Christ.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“I must therefore depend on the Greeks, whose prejudices, in some degree, are subdued by their distress.”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“In the productions of the mind, as in those of the soil, the gifts of nature are excelled by industry and skill:”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“The youth of Andronicus had been without spirit, his age was without reverence:”
― Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6

“The pathetic representations of Prudentius were less effectual than the generous boldness of Telemachus, an Asiatic monk, whose death was more useful to mankind than his life.”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire