...regarded as the most admirable. Edward Gibbon (see Chapter 13 above, under 'crimes and follies') said: 'If a man were called to fix the period in the history...death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.' The emperor Domitian died in 96 CE. Commodus succeeded his father, the philosopher emperor Marcus Aurelius,...

...to this that we now return. The Roman Global Village: Universal Rome If a man were called to fix a period in the history of the world during which the...the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus [96-180 AD]. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance...

...entitled "Heroes of History" by Will Durant. Durant quotes Gibbons thus: "If a man were to be called upon to fix the period, in the history of the world, during...without hesitation name that which elapsed from the accession of 33 Marcus Cocceius Nerva (AD 96) to the death of Marcus Aurelius(180)." Durant writes:...

...deal.59 In language which Gibbon was to echo and invert, he says: If a man were called to fix upon the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race - 'Europe' has now become the globe was most calamitous and afflicted, he would, without hesitation,...

...unusual peace and stability for the Roman empire. The eighteenthcentury historian Edward Gibbon called it "the period in the history of the world during which...condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous" (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 3). The third century, by contrast, was a period of considerable...

...were to befall this Eden after the death of Marcus Aurelius, declared that, 'If a man were called upon to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was the most happy and prosperous he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death...

...few families while the rest of the citizenry fell into poverty. Gibbon fixed the second century AD as the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was happiest and most prosperous.49 Meiners gave that designation to the other end of Roman conquest, on...