History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
58 (return) [ Theodoret, l. v. c. 26. I wish to believe the story
of St. Telemachus. Yet no church has been dedicated, no altar has
been erected, to the only monk who died a martyr in the cause of
humanity.]
5811 (return) [ Muller, in his valuable Treatise, de Genio,
moribus et luxu aevi Theodosiani, is disposed to question the
effect produced by the heroic, or rather saintly, death of
Telemachus. No prohibitory law of Honorius is to be found in the
Theodosian Code, only the old and imperfect edict of Constantine.
But Muller has produced no evidence or allusion to gladiatorial
shows after this period. The combats with wild beasts certainly
lasted till the fall of the Western empire; but the gladiatorial
combats ceased either by common consent, or by Imperial
edict.—M.]
59 (return) [ Crudele gladiatorum spectaculum et inhumanum
nonnullis videri solet, et haud scio an ita sit, ut nunc fit.
Cicero Tusculan. ii. 17. He faintly censures the abuse, and
warmly defends the use, of these sports; oculis nulla poterat
esse fortior contra dolorem et mortem disciplina. Seneca (epist.
vii.) shows the feelings of a man.]
The recent danger, to which the person of the emperor had been
exposed in the defenceless palace of Milan, urged him to seek a
retreat in some inaccessible fortress of Italy, where he might
securely remain, while the open country was covered by a deluge
of Barbarians. On the coast of the Adriatic, about ten or twelve
miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, the
Thessalians had founded the ancient colony of Ravenna, 60 which
they afterwards resigned to the natives of Umbria. Augustus, who
had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared, at the
distance of three miles from the old town, a capacious harbor,
for the reception of two hundred and fifty ships of war. This
naval establishment, which included the arsenals and magazines,
the barracks of the troops, and the houses of the artificers,
derived its origin and name from the permanent station of the
Roman fleet; the intermediate space was soon filled with
buildings and inhabitants, and the three extensive and populous
quarters of Ravenna gradually contributed to form one of the most
important cities of Italy. The principal canal of Augustus poured
a copious stream of the waters of the Po through the midst of the
city, to the entrance of the harbor; the same waters were
introduced into the profound ditches that encompassed the walls;
they were distributed by a thousand subordinate canals, into
every part of the city, which they divided into a variety of
small islands; the communication was maintained only by the use
of boats and bridges; and the houses of Ravenna, whose appearance
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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