History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 — Page 15
"
"
The present editor has followed the track of Gibbon through many parts of his work; he has read his authorities with constant reference to his pages, and must pronounce his deliberate judgment, in terms of the highest admiration as to his general accuracy.
Der gegenwärtige Herausgeber hat Gibbon durch viele Teile seines Werkes verfolgt; er hat seine Quellen mit ständigem Bezug auf seine Seiten gelesen und muss sein wohlüberlegtes Urteil in den höchsten Worten der Bewunderung hinsichtlich seiner allgemeinen Genauigkeit aussprechen.
Many of his seeming errors are almost inevitable from the close condensation of his matter.
Viele seiner scheinbaren Fehler sind durch die dichte Verdichtung seines Stoffes fast unvermeidlich.
From the immense range of his history, it was sometimes necessary to compress into a single sentence, a whole vague and diffuse page of a Byzantine chronicler.
Aufgrund des ungeheuren Umfangs seiner Geschichte war es bisweilen notwendig, eine ganze vage und weitschweifige Seite eines byzantinischen Chronisten in einem einzigen Satz zusammenzufassen.
Perhaps something of importance may have thus escaped, and his expressions may not quite contain the whole substance of the passage from which they are taken.
Vielleicht ist dabei etwas Wichtiges entgangen, und seine Formulierungen enthalten möglicherweise nicht ganz den gesamten Gehalt der Stelle, aus der sie entnommen sind.
His limits, at times, compel him to sketch; where that is the case, it is not fair to expect the full details of the finished picture.
Seine Grenzen zwingen ihn bisweilen zur Skizze; wo dies der Fall ist, kann man nicht billigerweise die vollständigen Einzelheiten des fertigen Bildes erwarten.
At times he can only deal with important results; and in his account of a war, it sometimes requires great attention to discover that the events which seem to be comprehended in a single campaign, occupy several years.
Bisweilen kann er sich nur mit wichtigen Ergebnissen befassen; und in seiner Darstellung eines Krieges bedarf es manchmal großer Aufmerksamkeit, um zu erkennen, dass die Ereignisse, die in einem einzigen Feldzug enthalten zu sein scheinen, mehrere Jahre in Anspruch nehmen.
But this admirable skill in selecting and giving prominence to the points which are of real weight and importance—this distribution of light and shade—though perhaps it may occasionally betray him into vague and imperfect statements, is one of the highest excellencies of Gibbon's historic manner.
Aber diese bewundernswerte Fähigkeit, die Punkte von wirklichem Gewicht und wirklicher Bedeutung auszuwählen und hervorzuheben – diese Verteilung von Licht und Schatten – obwohl sie ihn vielleicht gelegentlich zu vagen und unvollkommenen Aussagen verleiten mag, gehört zu den höchsten Vorzügen von Gibbons historischer Darstellungsweise.
Vocabulary
- Der
- Definite article 'the' for masculine nouns.
- gegenwärtige
- Current, present, existing at this time.
- Herausgeber
- Editor or publisher of a written work.
- hat
- Has; third-person singular of 'haben'.
- durch
- Through; preposition indicating movement or means.
- viele
- Many; indicating a large number of things.
- Teile
- Parts or sections of a larger whole.
- seines
- Of his; genitive possessive pronoun for masculine.
- Werkes
- Of the work; literary or artistic creation.
- verfolgt
- Followed, traced, or pursued something closely.
- er
- He; third-person singular masculine pronoun.
- seine
- His; possessive pronoun for masculine subject.
- Quellen
- Sources; references used in research or writing.
- mit
- With; preposition indicating accompaniment or means.
- ständigem
- Constant, continuous, unceasing in occurrence.
- Bezug
- Reference or relation to something specific.
- auf
- On, onto; preposition with various spatial meanings.
- Seiten
- Pages of a book or document.
- gelesen
- Read; past participle of 'lesen'.
- und
- And; coordinating conjunction linking words or clauses.
- muss
- Must; modal verb expressing necessity or obligation.
- sein
- His or to be; possessive pronoun or infinitive.
- wohlüberlegtes
- Well-considered, carefully thought-out judgment or opinion.
- Urteil
- Judgment, verdict, or opinion on a matter.
- in
- In; preposition indicating location or inclusion.
- den
- The; definite article accusative/dative plural form.
- höchsten
- Highest; superlative form of 'hoch'.
- Worten
- Words; dative plural of 'Wort'.
- der
- The; definite article for various grammatical cases.
- Bewunderung
- Admiration; feeling of wonder and respect.
- hinsichtlich
- With regard to; concerning a particular aspect.
- seiner
- Of his; genitive possessive form.
- allgemeinen
- General, overall; adjective in inflected form.
- Genauigkeit
- Accuracy, precision, exactness in detail.
- aussprechen
- To express or pronounce something verbally.
- Viele
- Many; large quantity of something.
- scheinbaren
- Apparent, seeming; inflected form of 'scheinbar'.
- Fehler
- Errors or mistakes in a text or work.
- sind
- Are; third-person plural of 'sein'.
- die
- The; definite article for feminine or plural nouns.
- dichte
- Dense, compact; adjective describing condensed material.
- Verdichtung
- Condensation or compression of material into brevity.
- Stoffes
- Of the material or subject matter being discussed.
- fast
- Almost, nearly; adverb indicating proximity to completion.
- unvermeidlich
- Unavoidable, inevitable; cannot be prevented.
- Aufgrund
- Due to, because of; causal preposition.
- des
- Of the; genitive definite article.
- ungeheuren
- Enormous, immense; inflected form of 'ungeheuer'.
- Umfangs
- Of the scope or extent of something.
- Geschichte
- History or story; narrative of past events.
- war
- Was; past tense of 'sein'.
- es
- It; third-person singular neuter pronoun.
- bisweilen
- Sometimes, occasionally; at certain times.
- notwendig
- Necessary, required; something that must be done.
- eine
- A, an; indefinite article for feminine nouns.
- ganze
- Whole, entire; adjective meaning complete.
- vage
- Vague, unclear; lacking precision or detail.
- weitschweifige
- Long-winded, verbose; excessively wordy in expression.
- Seite
- Page or side of a document or object.
- eines
- Of a; indefinite article in genitive case.
- byzantinischen
- Byzantine; relating to the Byzantine Empire.
- Chronisten
- Chronicler; one who records historical events.
- einem
- A, one; indefinite article in dative case.
- einzigen
- Single, sole; only one of its kind.
- Satz
- Sentence or proposition; unit of written language.
- zusammenzufassen
- To summarize or condense into a shorter form.
- Vielleicht
- Perhaps, maybe; expressing possibility or uncertainty.
- ist
- Is; third-person singular present of 'sein'.
- dabei
- In the process, thereby; in doing so.
- etwas
- Something, somewhat; indefinite pronoun or adverb.
- Wichtiges
- Something important; nominalized adjective 'wichtig'.
- entgangen
- Escaped notice; past participle of 'entgehen'.
- Formulierungen
- Formulations or phrasings of ideas in text.
- enthalten
- Contain; to hold or include within something.
- möglicherweise
- Possibly, perhaps; indicating something may be true.
- nicht
- Not; negation particle in German.
- ganz
- Whole, entire, completely; full extent.
- gesamten
- Entire, total; inflected form of 'gesamt'.
- Gehalt
- Content or substance contained within something.
- Stelle
- Passage or place in a text.
- aus
- From, out of; preposition of origin or source.
- sie
- They or she; third-person pronoun.
- entnommen
- Taken from; past participle of 'entnehmen'.
- Seine
- His; possessive pronoun nominative masculine form.
- Grenzen
- Limits or boundaries of scope or ability.
- zwingen
- To force or compel someone to act.
- ihn
- Him; accusative form of the pronoun 'er'.
- zur
- To the; contraction of 'zu' and 'der'.
- Skizze
- Sketch; brief outline lacking full detail.
- wo
- Where; relative or interrogative adverb of place.
- dies
- This; demonstrative pronoun referring to something.
- Fall
- Case or situation; instance of something occurring.
- kann
- Can; modal verb expressing ability or possibility.
- man
- One, you; indefinite pronoun for general statements.
- billigerweise
- Fairly, reasonably; in a justifiable manner.
- vollständigen
- Complete, full; inflected form of 'vollständig'.
- Einzelheiten
- Details, particulars; specific pieces of information.
- fertigen
- Finished, completed; inflected form of 'fertig'.
- Bildes
- Of the picture or image; genitive of 'Bild'.
- erwarten
- To expect or anticipate something to happen.
- Bisweilen
- Sometimes, at times; occasional occurrence.
- sich
- Himself, herself, itself; reflexive pronoun.
- nur
- Only, just; limiting adverb.
- wichtigen
- Important; inflected form of 'wichtig'.
- Ergebnissen
- Results or outcomes; dative plural of 'Ergebnis'.
- befassen
- To deal with or occupy oneself with something.
- Darstellung
- Representation or account; presentation of information.
- Krieges
- Of the war; genitive of 'Krieg'.
- bedarf
- Requires, needs; third-person singular of 'bedürfen'.
- manchmal
- Sometimes; occurring on some but not all occasions.
- großer
- Great, large; inflected form of 'groß'.
- Aufmerksamkeit
- Attention, attentiveness; careful focus on something.
- um
- In order to; preposition or part of infinitive clause.
- zu
- To; preposition or infinitive marker.
- erkennen
- To recognize or realize something.
- dass
- That; subordinating conjunction introducing a clause.
- Ereignisse
- Events; things that happen at a particular time.
- Feldzug
- Military campaign; organized series of operations.
- scheinen
- To seem or appear to be something.
- mehrere
- Several, multiple; more than two things.
- Jahre
- Years; plural of 'Jahr'.
- Anspruch
- Claim or demand; in 'Anspruch nehmen' means to require.
- nehmen
- To take; common verb of acquisition or use.
- Aber
- But; coordinating conjunction showing contrast.
- diese
- This, these; demonstrative adjective or pronoun.
- bewundernswerte
- Admirable, worthy of admiration; inflected adjective.
- Fähigkeit
- Ability, skill, capacity to do something.
- Punkte
- Points or aspects of a topic or argument.
- von
- From, of; preposition indicating origin or possession.
- wirklichem
- Real, genuine; inflected form of 'wirklich'.
- Gewicht
- Weight or importance; significance of something.
- wirklicher
- Real, actual; inflected comparative form.
- Bedeutung
- Meaning or significance; importance of something.
- auszuwählen
- To select or choose from available options.
- hervorzuheben
- To emphasize or highlight something important.
- Verteilung
- Distribution or arrangement of elements.
- Licht
- Light; illumination, also used metaphorically.
- Schatten
- Shadow or shade; contrast to light.
- obwohl
- Although, even though; concessive conjunction.
- vielleicht
- Perhaps, maybe; expressing uncertainty or possibility.
- gelegentlich
- Occasionally, sometimes; happening from time to time.
- vagen
- Vague; inflected form of 'vage'.
- unvollkommenen
- Imperfect, incomplete; inflected form of 'unvollkommen'.
- Aussagen
- Statements or assertions made in speech or writing.
- verleiten
- To mislead or tempt someone into error.
- mag
- May; modal verb expressing possibility or concession.
- gehört
- Belongs to; third-person singular of 'gehören'.
- Vorzügen
- Merits or advantages; dative plural of 'Vorzug'.
- historischer
- Historical; relating to history, inflected adjective.
- Darstellungsweise
- Manner of presentation or style of depiction.
Unlock audio playback, vocabulary games, and reading progress tracking.
Create free account →