... Reed HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE Edward Gibbon, Esq. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 5 1[Footnote 63: Between the exorbitant claims, and narrow concessions, of ... religion of his father and grandfather; but his wife, the fair and ambitious Irene, had imbibed the zeal of the Athenians, the heirs of the Idolatry, rather than the philosophy, of their ancestors. ... the practice of seeking, on the banks of the Tyber, their kings, their laws, and the oracles of their fate. The Frankswere perplexed between the name and substance of their government. All the powers of...