All That Is Human Must Retrograde If

His Sumptuous Tents, And Those Of His Satraps, Afforded An Immense Booty To The Conqueror; And An Incident Is Mentioned Which Proves The Rustic But Martial Ignorance Of The Legions In The Elegant Superfluities Of Life. A Bag Of Shining Leather, Filled With Pearls, Fell Into The Hands Of A Private Soldier; He Carefully Preserved The Bag, But He Threw Away Its Contents, Judging That Whatever Was Of No Use Could Not Possibly Be Of Any Value.

[whole] Generations May Be Swept Away By The Madness Of Kings In The Space Of A Single Hour.

The Peace Of The Eastern Church Was Invaded By A Swarm Of Fanatics [monks], Incapable Of Fear, Or Reason, Or Humanity; And The Imperial Troops Acknowledged, Without Shame, That They Were Much Less Apprehensive Of An Encounter With The Fiercest Barbarians.

In Their Censures Of Luxury The Fathers Are Extremely Minute And Circumstantial; And Among The Various Articles Which Excite Their Pious Indignation, We May Enumerate False Hair, Garments Of Any Colour Except White, Instruments Of Music, Vases Of Gold Or Silver, Downy Pillows, White Bread, Foreign Wines, Public Salutations, The Use Of Warm Baths, And The Practice Of Shaving The Beard, Which, According To Tertullian, Is A Lie Against Our Own Faces, And Am Impious Attempt To Improve The Works Of The Creator.

The Germans, In The Age Of Tacitus, Were Unacquainted With The Use Of Letters; And The Use Of Letters Is The Principal Circumstance That Distinguishes A Civilised People From A Herd Of Savages Incapable Of Knowledge Or Reflection. Without That Artificial Help, The Human Memory Soon Dissipates Or Corrupts The Ideas Intrusted To Her Charge; And The Nobler Faculties Of The Mind, No Longer Supplied With Models Or With Materials, Gradually Forget Their Powers; The Judgment Becomes Feeble And Lethargic, The Imagination Languid Or Irregular.