“The most superficial student of Roman history must be struck by the extraordinary degree in which the fortunes of the republic were affected by the presence of foreigners, under different names, on her soil.”
Author details
Related authors
Other Henry James Sumner Maine Quotes
The inquiries of the jurist are in truth prosecuted much as inquiry in physic and physiology was prosecuted before observation had taken the place of assumption.
Henry James Sumner Maine 
63% of people like this quote
The ancient Roman code belongs to a class of which almost every civilised nation in the world can show a sample, and which, so far as the Roman and Hellenic worlds were concerned, were largely diffused over them at epochs not widely distant from one another.
Henry James Sumner Maine
60% of people like this quote
In spite of overwhelming evidence, it is most difficult for a citizen of western Europe to bring thoroughly home to himself the truth that the civilisation which surrounds him is a rare exception in the history of the world.
Henry James Sumner Maine
58% of people like this quote
The Roman jurisprudence has the longest known history of any set of human institutions.
Henry James Sumner Maine
57% of people like this quote