Rise of Christendom (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Rise of Christendom<br><br>IT is now about one hundred and twenty-five years since Edward Gibbon stood musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol of Rome while the bare - footed friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter and the idea of writing the story of the Decline and Fall of the City first occurred to his mind. The reader may however search in vain through the pages of his elaborate and splendid composition for any clear and intelligible account of the course of events which brought the Franciscan friars to the Capitol where they had been from about the year 1250. It is said that the Benedictines had occupied the Capitol before them but if so the Benedictines could not have been there much earlier than the end of the twelfth century. The very site of the Temple of Jupiter and the history of the transition from the old Roman to the Mediaeval worship remain wrapped in profound obscurity.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.