Note 71b — Chapter XV · : Progress Of The Christian Religion.—Part IV.
Reading edition
711 (return) [ This translation is not exact: the first sentence is imperfect. Tertullian says, Ille dies nationibus insperatus, ille derisus, cum tanta sacculi vetustas et tot ejus nativitates uno igne haurientur. The text does not authorize the exaggerated expressions, so many magistrates, so many sago philosophers, so many poets, &c.; but simply magistrates, philosophers, poets.—G. —It is not clear that Gibbon’s version or paraphrase is incorrect: Tertullian writes, tot tantosque reges item præsides, &c.—M.]