...Gibbon's picture of decline and fall, according to which the philosopher-emperor had presided over "the period in the history of the world, during which the...of the human race was most happy and prosperous," whereas Constantine, by contrast, was thrown up during an age of barbarism and superstition which destroyed...

...empire— the period Gibbon singled out, with characteristic Eurocentric eloquence, as "the period of the history of the world during which the condition...of the human race was most happy and prosperous"— had begun. Whatever the manifest shortcomings of Gibbon's formulation, it is clearly relevant to Plutarch's...

...'Of the Constitution of the Roman Empire in the Age oftheAntonines' If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the...elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus [ie 96—180 AD]. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under...

...the Roman Empire in the Age of the Antonines' If a man were called to fix the period in the historv of the world during which the condition of the human...elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus [ie 96-180 ADJ. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed hv ahsolute power, under...

...sand in the universe.' Even the cynical Gibbon had to tip his hat: 'If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the...would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from [96 to 180 AD]' — That is, the era of those 'Five Good Emperors.'4 Today's democracies would not...

...Antonine line. His short reign inaugurated what Gibbon — taking a Eurocentric view — called "the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous."78 HOMOSEXUALITY AND CIVILIZATION 19. Antinous. Delphi, c. 130 CE. ander in reaching the...

...imperial authority gave formal recognition to his works ;TT and, there* " If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the...elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus (AD 96-180). The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under the...

...both imperial power and imperial longevity. As Gibbon wrote, "If a man were called upon to fix the period in the history of the world during which the...without hesitation name that which elapsed from the accession of Nerva to death of Aurelius. Their united reigns are possibly the only r~ ot history in...

...and author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, claims that 'if man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the...happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation' look to Roman history before the beginning of its decline in the late second century AD (cited in Doyle...

...Trajan is often taken as the height of the Roman Empire: Edward Gibbon called it 'the golden age', the 'period in the history of the world during which the...condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous' (Gibbon 1960: 1 ). For the upper classes in Rome and her vast Empire there is much to be said in favour...