History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1

Edward Gibbon · 1782 (Written); 1845 (Revised)

passage 75 of 518 · Chapter I: The Extent Of The Empire In The Age Of The > Chapter II: The Internal Prosperity In The Age Of The (6/7)

in brief

After estimating the empire’s population and public works, Gibbon inventories city numbers across regions, comparing Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa under Carthage, and the East, then naming cities like Laodicea and Pergamum and concluding with Antioch and Alexandria’s rank.

and it is on the site of this temple that a multitude of antiques have been dug up. See notes of Reimar on Dion Cassius, lxvi. c. 15, p. 1083.—W.]

73 (return) [ Montfaucon l’Antiquite Expliquee, tom. iv. p. 2, l. i. c. 9. Fabretti has composed a very learned treatise on the aqueducts of Rome.]

We have computed the inhabitants, and contemplated the public works, of the Roman empire. The observation of the number and greatness of its cities will serve to confirm the former, and to multiply the latter. It may not be unpleasing to collect a few scattered instances relative to that subject without forgetting, however, that from the vanity of nations and the poverty of language, the vague appellation of city has been indifferently bestowed on Rome and upon Laurentum.

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topics: geography and the description of places · taxation, tribute, and revenue · the city and urban life

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 · Edward Gibbon · 1782–1845