Boethius might have been styled happy, if that precarious epithet could be safely applied before the last term of the life of man.

I darted a contemptuous look at the stately models of superstition.

Philosophy alone can boast (and perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy), that her gentle hand is able to eradicate from the human mind the latent and deadly principle of fanaticism.

[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.

[The Goths'] poverty was incurable; since the most liberal donatives were soon dissipated in wasteful luxury, and the most fertile estates became barren in their hands.

The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought and language . . .

The vain, inconstant, rebellious disposition of the people [of Armorica], was incompatible either with freedom or servitude.