Edward Gibbon, 1737-1794

“…[holds] in their lifeless hands the riches of their fathers, without inheriting the spirit which had created and improved that sacred patrimony: they read, they praised, they compiled, but their languid souls seemed alike incapable of thought and action.” ― The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, Volume III, 1185 A. D. ― 1453 A. D., Page 299, The Modern Library, New York, Random House.