It Was With The Utmost Difficulty That

Instead Of A Perpetual And Perfect Measure Of The Divine Will, The Fragments Of The Koran Were Produced At The Discretion Of Mahomet; Each Revelation Is Suited To The Emergencies Of His Policy Or Passion; And All Contradiction Is Removed By The Saving Maxim That Any Text Of Scripture Is Abrogated Or Modified By Any Subsequent Passage.

Such Events May Be Disbelieved Or Disregarded; But The Charity Of A Bishop, Acacius Of Amida, Whose Name Might Have Dignified The Saintly Calendar, Shall Not Be Lost In Oblivion.

Yet The Arts Of Severus Cannot Be Justified By The Most Ample Privileges Of State Reason. He Promised Only To Betray; He Flattered Only To Ruin; And However He Might Occasionally Bind Himself By Oaths And Treaties, His Conscience, Obsequious To His Interest, Always Released Him From The Inconvenient Obligation.

The Simple Circumstantial Narrative (did Such A Narrative Exist) Of The Ruin Of A Single Town, Of The Misfortunes Of A Single Family, Might Exhibit An Interesting And Instructive Picture Of Human Manners; But The Tedious Repetition Of Vague And Declamatory Complaints Would Fatigue The Attention Of The Most Patient Reader.

History, In Fact, Is No More Than A List Of The Crimes Of Humanity, Human Follies And Accidents