Excerpt from History of Rome, and of the Roman People, From Its Origin to the Invasion of the Barbarians, Vol. 8: Section II The momentary lassitude of the Barbarians could alone give it respite, for of itself Roman society could do nothing in its own defence. The populations no longer had the courage to protect themselves, and moreover the law had deprived them of the means of doing this, prohibiting to citizens the possession of weapons. Another evil prevailed; in consequence of invasions and of the increasing insecurity ...
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Excerpt from History of Rome, and of the Roman People, From Its Origin to the Invasion of the Barbarians, Vol. 8: Section II The momentary lassitude of the Barbarians could alone give it respite, for of itself Roman society could do nothing in its own defence. The populations no longer had the courage to protect themselves, and moreover the law had deprived them of the means of doing this, prohibiting to citizens the possession of weapons. Another evil prevailed; in consequence of invasions and of the increasing insecurity, such gaps were made in the population that the life of the community became impoverished. The Church was not in a position to restore energy to this enfeebled vitality. The clergy lived in celibacy, and urged it upon the laity. In three books Saint Ambrose unfolds the merits of virginity; and at the same time he says: It is complained that the human race is in danger of dying Moreover, Christians had already been seen escaping in numerous bands to the desert; others. Who still remained in cities, avoided the conjugal life. Saint Basil, Saint Gregory, Saint John Chrysostom, and many others, were monks before they were bishops; and Saint Jerome so extols the merits of celibacy that when his Letter to Eustochia was read at Rome, it was thought that he absolutely condemned marriage. The Christians, while ask ing much from the state, gave it nothing in respect to political force. On the question of civil obligations they were in agree ment with the philosophers, who also recommended separation from the world; so that the two moral powers of the age made the con templative life the ideal of perfection and those who in this society were best fitted for the duties of life refused to perform them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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