...Empire (1776-88) is one of the best known of any work of literature: 'It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed fryars were singing Vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall...

...the frailty of human greatness and inspired some to higher achievements. 'It was at Rome, on the i5th of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol,' remembered Gibbon, 'while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that...

...Lausanne, to Italy. 'It was at Rome,' he states in a famous passage in his Memoirs, 'on the fifteenth of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins...friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.' Before settling...

...Edward Gibbon First published in six volumes between 1 776 and 1 788 "It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins...friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind." When the great...

...thought of my history. (Gibbon 1896,405-6; Memoir D, written 1790-91) It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted fryars were singing Vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall...

...the Autobiography published by Gibbon's longtime friend, Lord Sheffield, after the historian's death: "It was at Rome, on the 15th of October, 1764, as...friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind." 47 Gibbon's later...

...could descend to a cool and minute investigation. ... It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1794, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while...friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind (pp. 122-24). The...

...description. Draft 'E' of the Memoirs points this up even more clearly: It was at Rome on the fifteenth of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol while the barefooted fryars were singing Vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall...

...text of the Memoirs, based on the fifth manuscript draft, is closer to the wording in the History: 'It was at Rome, on the 15th of October [1764], as...amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed fryars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall...

...in the Temple of Jupiter on the ruins of the Capitol. Alternatively: It was at Rome on the fifteenth of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted fryars were singing Vespers in the temple of Jupiter that the idea of writing the decline and fall...