] chambers, were to take
fire--for a considerable space of time the fire would be retarded by the
mere enormity of extent which it would have to traverse. But there would
come at length a critical moment, at which the maximum of the retarding
effect having been attained, the bulk and volume of the flaming mass would
thenceforward assist the flames in the rapidity of their progress. Such
was the effect upon the declension of the Roman empire from the vast
extent of its territory. For a very long period that very extent, which
finally became the overwhelming cause of its ruin, served to retard and to
disguise it. A small encroachment, made at any one point upon the
integrity of the empire, was neither much regarded at Rome, nor perhaps in
and for itself much deserved to be regarded. But a very narrow belt of
encroachments, made upon almost every part of so enormous a circumference,
was sufficient of itself to compose something of an antagonist force. And
to these external dilapidations, we must add the far more important
dilapidations from within, affecting all the institutions of the State,
and all the forces, whether moral or political, which had originally
raised it or maintained it.
Pages:
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336