A History of Rome, from A.D. 96, to the Fall of the Western Empire |
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A History of Rome from A.D. 96 to the Fall of the Western Empire Robert William Browne No preview available - 2015 |
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Accession Aëtius Africa Alaric Alemanni amongst Antioch Antoninus army assassination Attila Augustus Aurelian Aurelius barbarians battle Bishop BORN A. D. Britain Cæsar camp Caracalla cavalry celebrated character Christian Church civil command commenced Commodus conferred Constantine Constantinople court cruelty Dacia Danube Decius defeated DIED A. D. Diocletian East Elagabalus Emperor enemy favour favourite fled Galerius Gallienus Gaul Genseric Goths Gratian Hadrian Honorius honour Huns Illyricum imperial inhabitants invaders Italy Julian king legions Licinius Macrinus marched Marcian Marcomanni Maxentius Maximian Maximin Maximus Mesopotamia Milan military murder Nerva palace Parthians patrician peace Persian Pertinax Prætorians prefect prince Probus proclaimed province purple put to death Quadi Ravenna reign revolt Rhine Ricimer Roman Rome ruin Sapor Senate sent Severus siege slain soldiers soon Stilicho sword Syria Tacitus temple Theodosius thousand tion town Trajan triumph troops usurper Valens Valentinian Valentinian III Valerian Vandals Verus victory Visigoths whilst
Popular passages
Page 49 - Gaul, and, according to the historians, carried off "a majority of the population." It was the first of a long series of similar visitations. Niebuhr has said that the ancient world never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it by the plague which visited it in the reign of Aurelius. We are in danger of attaching too little importance to occurrences of this kind.
Page 48 - This pestilence must have raged with incredible fury; and it carried off innumerable victims. As the reign of M. Aurelius forms a turning point in so many things, and above all in literature and art, I have no doubt that this crisis was brought about by that plague. . . . The ancient world never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it by the plague which visited it in the reign of M. Aurelius.
Page 2 - He bequeathed, as a valuable legacy to his successors, the advice of confining the empire within those limits, which Nature seemed to have placed as its permanent bulwarks and boundaries; on the west the Atlantic ocean; the Rhine and Danube on the north; the Euphrates on the east; and towards the south, the sandy deserts of Arabia and Africa.
Page 69 - It is my constant practice, sire, to refer to you all subjects on which I entertain doubt. For who is better able to direct my hesitation or to instruct my...
Page 67 - consist of sixteen books ; they begin with the death of Augustus, and conclude with that of Nero (14-68 AD). The object of Tacitus was to describe the influence which the establishment of tyranny on the ruins of liberty exercised for good or for evil in bringing out the character of the individual. In the extinction of freedom there still existed in Rome bright examples of heroism and courage, and instances not less prominent of corruption and degradation.
Page 260 - ... impatient desire of revenge. A slight fever, which was perhaps occasioned by the agitation of his spirits, was increased by the fatigues of the journey; and Constantius was obliged to halt at the little town of Mopsucrene, twelve miles...
Page 65 - AD, and it was his intention to include the reigns of Nero and Trajan. In this work he proposed to investigate the political state of the commonwealth, the feeling of its armies, the sentiments of its provinces, the elements of its strength and weakness, and the causes and reasons for each historical phenomenon. The principal fault which diminishes the value of his history as a record of events is his too great readiness to accept evidence unhesitatingly, and to record popular rumors without taking...
Page 67 - There is none of that striving after epigrammatic terseness which savors of affectation. His brevity, like that which characterizes the style of Thucydides, is the necessary condensation of a writer whose thoughts flow more quickly than his pen can express them. Hence his sentences are suggestive of far more than they express; they are enigmatical hints of deep and hidden meaning, which keep the mind active and the attention alive, and delight the reader with the pleasures of discovery and the consciousness...
Page 243 - Feast of Pentecost, the 22nd of May, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the thirty-first of his reign, he expired. A wild wail of grief arose from the army and the people, on hearing that Constantine was dead. The body was laid out in a coffin of gold, and carried by a procession of the whole army, headed by his son Constans, to Constantinople. For three months it lay there in state in the palace, lights burning...
Page 90 - ... public games. This was an offence which could not be forgiven, and he accordingly determined their immediate destruction. Marcia found the list of his intended victims written in his own hand. She made haste to anticipate his purpose, and caused this worthless and inglorious wretch to be strangled, in the thirty-second year of his age and the thirteenth of his reign. Laetus, captain of the praetorian guards, who had conducted the conspiracy which rid the world of Commodus, bestowed the empire...