|
|
Article: Constantine, the first Catholic emperor.(Religion)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- September 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
THE BEST-KNOWN HISTORIAN of the Roman empire is the Englishman Edward Gibbon (1739-94), who produced the masterly History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This work was influential for generations of young English university students, helping to shape their attitudes to society, empire and religion through its learning and elegance. The celebrity Tory politician and former editor of London's Spectator, Boris Johnson, in his recent spirited defence of classical studies The Dream of Rome, is a bright and breezy exponent of Gibbon's enthusiasm for paganism.
Although briefly a Catholic himself as a youth, Gibbon became bitterly anti-Christian and wholly ...