History of European morals, from Augustus to Charlemagne v. 2, Volume 2D. Appleton & Company, 1897 |
Common terms and phrases
absolutely admiration anchorites ancient animals appears ascetic asceticism barbarian beauty believed bishop Bollandists Catholic cause century character charity Charlemagne chiefly Chris Christ Christendom Christian Church civilisation clergy condemned Constantine courtesan curious dæmons death desert devoted Diocletian Divine doctrine duty ecclesiastical effect emperor Empire enthusiasm extreme father feeling female Gaul Greek Greg Gregory Gregory of Tours habits hell hermit Hist historians honour human husband Ibid ideal imagination infanticide influence intellectual Jerome labour legends legislation lives Macarius of Alexandria marriage Milman monasteries monastic monks moral Morgengab mother nations nature never noble observed opinion Pachomius Pagan passions penances period persecution Plutarch priests probably purity realised recognised regarded religion religious Roman Rome Rorarius saint sentiment slaves society soul Sozomen sphere spirit Stoicism suffering suicide Synesius Tertullian theological Tillemont tion vice virgin virtue wife wives woman women writers
Popular passages
Page 283 - She remains, . while creeds and civilisations rise and fall, the eternal priestess of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people.
Page 220 - Hear how it screams to come out ; see how it turns and twists itself about in the fire; it beats its head against the roof of the oven. It stamps its little feet on the floor of the oven.
Page 8 - It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character, which through all the changes of eighteen centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love, has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and conditions, has been not only the highest pattern of virtue but the strongest incentive to its practice, and has exercised so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more...
Page 107 - There is, perhaps, no phase in the moral history of mankind of a deeper or more painful interest than this ascetic epidemic. A hideous, sordid, and emaciated maniac, without knowledge, without patriotism, without natural affection, passing his life in a long routine of useless and atrocious self-torture, and quailing before the ghastly phantoms of his delirious brain, had become the ideal of the nations...
Page 107 - A hideous, sordid, and emaciated maniac, without knowledge, without patriotism, without natural affection, passing his life in a long routine of useless and atrocious self-torture, and quailing before the ghastly phantoms of his delirious brain, had become the ideal of the nations which had known the writings of Plato and Cicero and the lives of Socrates and Cato.
Page 307 - Nor did women show less alacrity in repudiating their husbands. Seneca denounced this evil with especial vehemence, declaring that divorce in Rome no longer brought with it any shame, and that there were women who reckoned their years rather by their husbands than by the consuls.
Page 340 - She feigned a willingness to yield, but told him it was first necessary to make a libation to the goddess. She appeared as a priestess before the altar bearing in her hand a cup of wine, which she had poisoned. She drank half of it herself, handed the remainder to her guilty lover, and when he had drained the cup to the dregs, burst into a fierce thanksgiving that she had been permitted to avenge, and was soon to rejoin, her murdered husband.
Page 358 - Men excel in energy, self-reliance, perseverance, and magnanimity ; women in humility, gentleness, modesty, and endurance. The realising imagination which causes us to pity and to love is more sensitive in women than in men, and it is especially more capable of dwelling on the unseen. Their religious or devotional realisations are incontestably more vivid ; and it is probable that, while a father is most moved by the death of a child in his presence, a mother feels most the death of a child in some...
Page 282 - The family is the centre and the archetype of the State, and the happiness and goodness of society are always in a very great degree dependent upon the purity of domestic life. The essentially exclusive nature of marital affection, and the natural desire of every man to be certain of the paternity of the child he supports, render the incursions of irregular passions within the domestic circle a cause of extreme suffering.
Page 345 - The fundamental truth, that the same act can never be at once venial for a man to demand, and infamous for a woman to accord, though nobly enforced by the early Christians, has not passed into the popular sentiment of Christendom.