[The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of which the practice, in a large and vicious community, is seldom consistent with the public safety.
Edward Gibbon (1821). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.152
![[The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of which the practice, in a large and vicious community, is seldom consistent with the public safety.](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/edward-gibbon/the-penalty-of-death-was-abolished-in-the-roman-empire-a-law-of-mercy-most-delightful-to-the-humane-theorist.jpg)