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Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Repr. With the Omission of All Passages of an Irreligious or Immoral Tendency, by
Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Repr With the Omission of All Passages of an Irreligious or Immoral Tendency by Author:Edward Gibbon Title: Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Repr. With the Omission of All Passages of an Irreligious or Immoral Tendency, by T. Bowdler General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1826 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or m... more »issing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: Chap, people of savage negroes into the system of civilized society. But the friends of the Roman empire, the Axumites, or Abyssinians, may be always distinguished from the original natives of Africa. The hand of nature has flattened the noses of the negroes, covered their heads with shaggy wool, and tinged their skin with inherent and indelible blackness. But the olive complexion of the Abyssinians, their hair, shape, and features, distinctly mark them as a colony of Arabs; and this descent is confirmed by the resemblance of language and manners, the report of an ancient emigration, and the narrow interval between the shores of the Red Sea. Christianity had raised that nation above the level of African barbarism; their intercourse with Egypt, and the successors of Constantine, had communicated the rudiments of the arts and sciences ; their vessels traded to the isle of Ceylon, and seven kingdoms obeyed the Negus or supreme prince of Abyssinia. The independence of the Homerites, who reigned in the rich and happy Arabia, was first violated by an Ethiopian conqueror; he drew his hereditary claim from the queen of Sheba, and his ambition was sanctified by religious zeal. The Jews, powerful and active in exile, had seduced the mind of Dunaan, prince of the Homerites. They urged him to retaliate the persecution inflicted by the Imperial laws on their unfortunate brethren: some Roman merchants were injuriously treated; and several Christians of Negra...« less