Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal than the deep, and perhaps indelible, mark, which a servitude of two hundred years has imprinted on the character of the Russians.
Edward Gibbon (2008). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.15, Cosimo, Inc.
![Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal than the deep, and perhaps indelible, mark, which a servitude of two hundred years has](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/edward-gibbon/both-moscow-and-kiev-the-modern-and-the-ancient-capitals-were-reduced-to-ashes-by-the-tartars-a-temporary-ruin.jpg)