"His (T. Antoninus Pius') reign is marked by the rare
advantage of furnishing very few materíals for history;
which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes,
follies, and misfortunes of mankind."
Gibbon's first volume was published in 1776, and Voltaire's _Ingenii_
in 1767. In the latter we find--
"En effet, l'historie n'est que le tableau des crimes
et des malheurs."--_Oeuvres de Voltaire_ (ed. Beuchot.
Paris, 1884. 8vo.), tom. xxxiii. p. 427.
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