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1) Good quotes
After an introductory couple of paras about Commodus' father and mother, Gibbon moves from historical scene-setting to moral scene-setting: Most of the crimes which disturb the internal peace of society, are produced by the restraints which the necessary but unequal laws of property have imposed on
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Gibbon doesn't hesitate to exalt Marcus Aurelius in nearly every way imaginable and the fact that such a man could spawn the hellraiser that Commodus would become, I think, pained Gibbon more than he expected. I think it's the fact of Marcus' failure to properly reform Commodus' character is the thing that irks Gibbon the most and this gets projected onto his analysis of Rome in general.
Caligula, while sharing (it would seem) a noble blood lineage, was introduced to the menace of court intrigue at an early age and it could be argued that the fates of his closest relatives shaped him into what he would become.
Though Gibbon seems to argue that Commodus emerged from the womb as a fully-formed demon, attributing his corruption to his childhood attendants.
And the ending of the Pertinax story damn near moved me to tears. No good deed, eh?
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Gibbon writes thus of his reunion with his own father after he had been in Europe for almost five years: It was not without some awe and apprehension that I approached the presence of my father. My infancy, to speak the truth, had been neglected at home; the severity of his look and language at our last parting still dwelt on my memory; nor could I form any notion of his character, or my probable reception. They were both more agreeable than I could expect. The domestic discipline of our ancestors has been relaxed by the philosophy and softness of the age; and if my father remembered that he had trembled before a stern parent, it was only to adopt with his own son an opposite mode of behaviour. He received me as a man and a friend; all constraint was banished at our first interview, and we ever afterwards continued on the same terms of easy and equal politeness. He applauded the success of my education; every word and action was expressive of the most cordial affection; and our lives would have passed without a cloud, if his oeconomy had been equal to his fortune, or if his fortune had been equal to his desires.
I haven't read the full autobiography (at Project Gutenberg) but maybe I ought to; likewise the Morison biography.
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