Date: 1776, 1781, 1788-89

"At the age of twelve years he embraced the rigid system of the Stoicks, which taught him to submit his body to his mind, his passions to his reason; to consider virtue as the only good, vice as the only evil, all things external, as things indifferent."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776

"Yet in such pursuits great moderation is requisite, lest the mind too freely rove, and idly indulge itself in the airy wilds of fancy, to the neglect of real science and useful improvement."

— Berington, Joseph (1743-1827)

Date: 1776

"In short, he ranges, with curious attention, through the wide regions of truth; noting the different steps, that lead to it, by converging lines, and carefully distinguishing the false lights of fancy or passion from the cooler investigations of the reasoning faculties."

— Berington, Joseph (1743-1827)

Date: 1776

" A father, husband, brother sorrowing weep, / Whose hearts engraven thy fair virtues keep."

— Shaw, Cuthbert (1738-1771)

Date: 1776-1789

"The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"In the same manner [says Longinus] as some children always remain pigmies, whose infant limbs have been too closely confined; thus our tender minds, fettered by the prejudices and habits of a just servitude, are unable to expand themselves, or to attain that well-proportioned greatness which we ...

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"But the words of the assassin sunk deep into the mind of Commodus, and left an indelible impression of fear and hatred against the whole body of the senate"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"But every sentiment of virtue and humanity was extinct in the mind of Commodus"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"The influence of a polite age and the labour of an attentive education had never been able to infuse into his rude and brutish mind the least tincture of learning"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"The wise instructions of Severus never made any lasting impression on the mind of his son, who, although not destitute of imagination and eloquence, was equally devoid of judgment and humanity"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)