History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3

Name: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3
Author: Gibbon, Edward

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Many prodigies were omitted, or forgotten; and Hippo
      had been less favorably treated than the other cities of the
      province. And yet the bishop enumerates above seventy miracles,
      of which three were resurrections from the dead, in the space of
      two years, and within the limits of his own diocese. 80 If we
      enlarge our view to all the dioceses, and all the saints, of the
      Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and
      the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible source. But we
      may surely be allowed to observe, that a miracle, in that age of
      superstition and credulity, lost its name and its merit, since it
      could scarcely be considered as a deviation from the ordinary and
      established laws of nature.

      77 (return) [ Lucian composed in Greek his original narrative,
      which has been translated by Avitus, and published by Baronius,
      (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 415, No. 7-16.) The Benedictine editors of
      St. Augustin have given (at the end of the work de Civitate Dei)
      two several copies, with many various readings. It is the
      character of falsehood to be loose and inconsistent. The most
      incredible parts of the legend are smoothed and softened by
      Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 9, &c.)]

      78 (return) [ A phial of St. Stephen’s blood was annually
      liquefied at Naples, till he was superseded by St. Jamarius,
      (Ruinart. Hist. Persecut. Vandal p. 529.)]

      79 (return) [ Augustin composed the two-and-twenty books de
      Civitate Dei in the space of thirteen years, A.D. 413-426.
      Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 608, &c.) His learning is
      too often borrowed, and his arguments are too often his own; but
      the whole work claims the merit of a magnificent design,
      vigorously, and not unskilfully, executed.]

      80 (return) [ See Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 22, and
      the Appendix, which contains two books of St. Stephen’s miracles,
      by Evodius, bishop of Uzalis. Freculphus (apud Basnage, Hist. des
      Juifs, tom. vii. p. 249) has preserved a Gallic or a Spanish
      proverb, “Whoever pretends to have read all the miracles of St.
      Stephen, he lies.”]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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.

Many prodigies were omitted, or forgotten; and Hippo
      had been less favorably treated than the other cities of the
      province. And yet the bishop enumerates above seventy miracles,
      of which three were resurrections from the dead, in the space of
      two years, and within the limits of his own diocese. 80 If we
      enlarge our view to all the dioceses, and all the saints, of the
      Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and
      the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible source. But we
      may surely be allowed to observe, that a miracle, in that age of
      superstition and credulity, lost its name and its merit, since it
      could scarcely be considered as a deviation from the ordinary and
      established laws of nature.

      77 (return) [ Lucian composed in Greek his original narrative,
      which has been translated by Avitus, and published by Baronius,
      (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 415, No. 7-16.) The Benedictine editors of
      St. Augustin have given (at the end of the work de Civitate Dei)
      two several copies, with many various readings. It is the
      character of falsehood to be loose and inconsistent. The most
      incredible parts of the legend are smoothed and softened by
      Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 9, &c.)]

      78 (return) [ A phial of St. Stephen’s blood was annually
      liquefied at Naples, till he was superseded by St. Jamarius,
      (Ruinart. Hist. Persecut. Vandal p. 529.)]

      79 (return) [ Augustin composed the two-and-twenty books de
      Civitate Dei in the space of thirteen years, A.D. 413-426.
      Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 608, &c.) His learning is
      too often borrowed, and his arguments are too often his own; but
      the whole work claims the merit of a magnificent design,
      vigorously, and not unskilfully, executed.]

      80 (return) [ See Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 22, and
      the Appendix, which contains two books of St. Stephen’s miracles,
      by Evodius, bishop of Uzalis. Freculphus (apud Basnage, Hist. des
      Juifs, tom. vii. p. 249) has preserved a Gallic or a Spanish
      proverb, “Whoever pretends to have read all the miracles of St.
      Stephen, he lies.”]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3

No reviews yet