Miscellaneous Works of Edw. Gibbon: With Memoirs of His Life and Writings, Composed by Himself, Band 61797 |
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Abbé againſt alfo almoſt alſo ancient anſwer Antiq Aricia Auguftus becauſe Bibliothèque Raifonnée Cæfar Campania Catullus Chriftian circumftances confifting defcribes defcription defign deſtroyed Differtation diſtance diſtinguiſhed diſtrict eſtabliſhed expreffed fame fatire fays fecond feems fenate fenfe feven fhall fhould fide fince finiſhed firft firſt fituation fome fovereign fpeaks ftill fubject fucceffors fuch fufficient fuppofe furely Gauls greateſt Hannibal hiftorian Hiftory himſelf houſe ideas inhabitants inſtead interefting Italy itſelf Juftin king kingdom of Naples Latium learned lefs letters Livy Macedon maſters moſt muſt myſelf Naples Nardini nations natural neceffary obfervations paffage paffed perfon philofopher pleaſed pleaſure poet poffible Polybius Pompey Porta Capena praiſe prefent prince purpoſe queftion raiſed read Cluverius Ital reafon reſpect Romans Rome Satire of Juvenal ſay Scythians ſmall ſpeak ſtate ſtill Strabo Taurini thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thouſand Tiber tion tranflated treats underſtanding univerfal uſeful Vaud whofe whoſe wiſhed
Beliebte Passagen
Seite 74 - I followed the high road, I should not have been able, at the end of my long journey, to retrace the progress of my thoughts. This plan of reading is not applicable to our early studies, since the severest method is scarcely sufficient to make us conceive objects altogether new.
Seite 74 - ... sacrifice the principal to the accessory. The use of our reading is to aid us in thinking. The perusal of a particular work gives birth, perhaps, to ideas unconnected with the subject of which it treats. I wish to pursue these ideas ; they withdraw me from my proposed plan of reading, and throw me into a new track, and from thence, perhaps into a second, and a third. At length I begin to perceive whither my researches tend.
Seite 75 - ... and embracing truth wherever it is to be found. But what ought we to read ? Each individual must answer this question for himself, agreeably to the object of his studies. The only general precept that I would venture to give, is that of Pliny,* " to read much, rather than many things...
Seite 75 - ... pictures, thoughts, and sentiments. Yet this invention will miss its effect, unless it be accompanied with a genius, capable of adapting itself to every variety of the subject ; successively sublime, pathetic, flowery, majestic...
Seite 73 - Yet let us avoid the contrary extreme, and respect method without rendering ourselves its slaves. While we propose an end in our reading, let not this end be too remote ; and when once we have attained it, let our attention be directed to a different subject.
Seite 73 - Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which all our studies may point. Through neglect of this rule, gross ignorance often disgraces great readers ; who, by skipping hastily and irregularly from one subject to another, render themselves incapable of combining their ideas. So many detached parcels of knowledge cannot form a whole. This...
Seite 75 - ... expatiating on the authors so generally known and approved, I would simply observe, that in matters of reasoning, the best are those who have augmented the number of useful truths ; who have discovered truths, of whatever nature they may be : in one word, those bold spirits, who quitting the beaten track, prefer being in the wrong alone, to being in the right with the multitude.
Seite 74 - ... To read with attention, exactly to define the expressions of our author, never to admit a conclusion without comprehending its reason, often to pause, reflect, and interrogate ourselves ; these are so many advices which it is easy to give, but difficult to follow.
Seite 169 - ... of action. But here we have to do not with the orator, but with the witness. Considered in this view, Livy appears merely as a man of letters, covered with the dust of his library, little acquainted with the art of war, careless in point of geography, and who lived two centuries after Hannibal's expedition. In the whole of his recital, we may perceive rather a romantic picture, calculated to please the fancy, than a faithful and judicious history, capable of satisfying the understanding. The...
Seite 220 - I have already remarked his prodigious mass of materials. In speaking of the meanest village, all the learning of antiquity and the middle ages occurs to his memory ; and a passage is not more concealed from his keen eye in a legend of the tenth century, than if it stood at the head of the ^Eneid.