The Ruins: Or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires: and The Law of NaturePeter Eckler publishing Company, 1890 - 225 pages |
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action Ahrimanes ancient animals became Beddou body called causes celestial celestial sphere Christian civil Cloth constellations cupidity desert despotism divine doctrine earth Egypt Egyptians emblem empire equal Essenians eternity Euphrates evil existence formed Fôt Genius gods happiness hath heart heaven human race ideas ignorance India individual inhabitants justice kings Kneph labor Lama law of nature legislator living Mahomet means metempsychosis mind Mithra moral Moses multitude Mussulmans mysteries nations Nile Nineveh objects observed opinions oppressed origin Osiris passions Persians physical planets Plutarch Porphyry pretended priests principle prophet Pythagoras reason Red Sea religion ruins sacred savage savage nations says sect senses serpent silence simple men society sometimes soul spirit stars Strabo supposed Syria temples Thebes things thou thousand tion tombs truth Typhon tyrants universe vernal equinox virtue Volney vols wisdom words worship zodiac Zoroaster
Popular passages
Page 143 - For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Page 176 - ... of the seasons, or the action of the elements ; if he pretends to exist under water, without drowning ; to handle fire without burning himself; to deprive himself of air without suffocating; or to drink poison without destroying himself; he receives, for each infraction of the law of nature, a corporal punishment proportioned to his transgression.
Page 156 - Such was the picture of the Persian sphere, cited by Aben Ezra in the Poeticum of Blaeu, p. 71. "The picture of the first decan of the Virgin," says that writer, "represents a beautiful virgin with flowing hair ; sitting in a chair, with two ears of corn in her hand, and suckling an infant, called Jesus by some nations, and Christ in Greek.
Page 6 - I figured to myself the Assyrian on the banks of the Tigris, the Chaldean on those of the Euphrates, the Persian reigning from the Indus to the Mediterranean. I...
Page 6 - Where are those ramparts of Nineveh, those walls of Babylon, those palaces of Persepolis, those temples of Balbec and of Jerusalem ? Where are those fleets of Tyre, those dock-yards of Arad, those workshops of Sidon, and that multitude of mariners, pilots, merchants, and soldiers?
Page 59 - Then turning towards the west : Yes, continued he, a hollow sound already strikes my ear; a cry of liberty, proceeding from far distant shores, resounds on the ancient continent.
Page 167 - A little jargon," says Geogory Nazianzen to St. Jerome (Hieron. ad. ffrp.) " is all that is necessary to impose on the people. The less they comprehend, the more they admire. Our forefathers and doctors of the church have often said, not what they thought, but what circumstances and necessity dictated to them.