iline resolved to hazard all on a desperate
engagement. In exhorting his troops, he dwelt on the fact that men
fighting for life and liberty were more than a match for a foe who had
infinitely less at stake.

Thus brought to bay, Catiline's soldiers met the attack of the
government troops with furious valour, their leader setting a brilliant
example of desperate daring, and the most vigilant and vigorous
generalship. But Petreius, on the other side, directed his force against
the rebel centre, shattered it, and took the wings in flank. Catiline's
followers stood and fought till they fell, with their wounds in front;
he himself hewed his way through the foe, and was found still breathing
at a distance from his own ranks. No quarter was given or taken; and
among the rebels there were no survivors. In the triumphant army, all
the stoutest soldiers were slain or wounded; mourning and grief mingled
with the elation of victory.

* * * * *

EDWARD GIBBON

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire--I

Edward Gibbon, son of a Hampshire gentleman, was born at
Putney, near London, April 27, 1737. After a preliminary
education at Westminster, and fourteen "unprofitable" months
at Magdalen College, Oxford, a whim to join the Roman church
led to his banishment to Lausanne, where he spent five years,
and acquired a mastery of the French language, formed his
taste for literary expression, and settled his religious
doubts in a profound scepticism. He served some years in the
militia, and was a member of parliament. It was in 1764, while
musing amidst, the ruins of the Capitol of Rome, that the idea
of writing "The Decline and Fall" of the city first started
into his mind. The vast work was completed in 1787. "A Study
in Literature," written in French, and his "Miscellaneous
Works," published after his death, which include "The Memoirs
of his Life and Writings," complete the list of his literary
labours. He died of dropsy on January 16, 1794. The portion of
the work which is epitomized here covers the period from the
reign of Commodus to the era of Charlemagne, and includes the
famous portion of the work dealing with the growth of the
Christian church.

_I.--Rome, Mistress of the World_

In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome
comprehended the fairest part of the eart