The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical history, will probably conclude that, if the eyes of the spectators have sometimes been deceived by fraud, the understanding of the readers has much more frequently been insulted by fiction.
Edward Gibbon (2015). “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V2: the History Focus”, p.155, 谷月社
