Gibbon's The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
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104--301.) That learned Benedictine reviews the topographers of ancient
Rome; the first efforts of Blondus, Fulvius, Martianus, and Faunus, the
superior labors of Pyrrhus Ligorius, had his learning been equal to his
labors; the writings of Onuphrius Panvinius, qui omnes obscuravit, and
the recent but imperfect books of Donatus and Nardini. Yet Montfaucon
still sighs for a more complete plan and description of the old city,
which must be attained by the three following methods: 1. The
measurement of the space and intervals of the ruins. 2. The study of
inscriptions, and the places where they were found. 3. The investigation
of all the acts, charters, diaries of the middle ages, which name any
spot or building of Rome. The laborious work, such as Montfaucon
desired, must be promoted by princely or public munificence: but the
great modern plan of Nolli (A.D. 1748) would furnish a solid and
accurate basis for the ancient topography of Rome.]
Of these pilgrims, and of every reader, the attention will be excited by
a History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; the greatest,
perhaps, and most awful scene in the history of mankind. The various
causes and progressive effects are connected with many of the events
most interesting in human annals: the artful policy of the Cæsars, who
long maintained the name and image of a free republic; the disorders of
military despotism; the rise, establishment, and sects of Christianity;
the foundation of Constantinople; the division of the monarchy; the
invasion and settlements of the Barbarians of Germany and Scythia; the
institutions of the civil law; the character and religion of Mahomet;
the temporal sovereignty of the popes; the restoration and decay of the
Western empire of Charlemagne; the crusades of the Latins in the East:
the conquests of the Saracens and Turks; the ruin of the Greek empire;
the state and revolutions of Rome in the middle age. The historian may
applaud the importance and variety of his subject; but while he is
conscious of his own imperfections, he must often accuse the deficiency
of his materials. It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first
conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty
years of my life, and which, however inadequate to my own wishes, I
finally delivere to the curiosity and candor of the public.
Lausanne, June 27 1787
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