jacob graham’s Reviews > History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, Abridged (00) by Gibbon, Edward [Paperback (2001)] > Status Update

"In the time of the emperor Decius, it was the opinion of the magistrates, that the Christians of Rome were possessed of very considerable wealth . . . and that many among their proselytes had sold their lands and houses to increase the public riches of the sect, at the expence, indeed, of their unfortunate children, who found themselves beggars, because their parents had been saints."

lol, gibbon, ever delightful

"Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his [Gordian II] inclinations; and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than for ostentation."

LOL, Gibbon, good one. These "productions," apparently, included "by each of his concubines . . . three or four children."