nguage and
the taste of the interpreter. Our alphabets may be often defective; a
harsh sound, an uncouth spelling, might offend the ear or the eye of our
countrymen; and some words, notoriously corrupt, are fixed, and, as
it were, naturalized in the vulgar tongue. The prophet Mohammed can
no longer be stripped of the famous, though improper, appellation of
Mahomet: the well-known cities of Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo, would
almost be lost in the strange descriptions of Haleb, Demashk, and Al
Cahira: the titles and offices of the Ottoman empire are fashioned by
the practice of three hundred years; and we are pleased to blend the
three Chinese monosyllables, Con-fu-tzee, in the respectable name of
Confucius, or even to adopt the Portuguese corruption of Mandarin. But
I would vary the use of Zoroaster and Zerdusht, as I drew my information
from Greece or Persia: since our connection with India, the genuine
Timour is restored to the throne of Tamerlane: our most correct writers
have retrenched the Al, the superfluous article, from the Koran; and we
escape an ambiguous termination, by adopting Moslem instead of Musulman,
in the plural number. In these, and in a thousand examples, the shades
of distinction are often minute; and I can feel, where I cannot explain,
the motives of my choice.

Chapter I: The Extent Of The Empire In The Age Of The Antoninies.--Part I.

Introduction--The Extent And Military Force Of The Empire In
The Age Of The Antonines.

In the second century of the Christian AEra, the empire of Rome
comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized
portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were
guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valor. The gentle but powerful
influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the
provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages
of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution was preserved
with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the
sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive
powers of government. During a happy period of more than fourscore
years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and
abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the
design of this, and of the two succeeding chapters, to describe the
prosperous condition of their empire; and after wards, from the death
of Marcus Antoninus, t