Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Antonina, or the Fall of Rome, Vol. 1 of 2: A Romance of the Fifth Century
The book which thus decided my vocation in life, is now presented to the reader in a compact form. It would be idle to say that I do not look back at my first work of fiction with a partiality which I cannot expect others to feel for it. But I am not, on that account, altogether blind to its defects. My later and better experience shows me blemishes in treatment and in style, which it is now too late to remove from these pages. I can only hope I am justified in believing that there are merits in this performance, which may fairly be set against the faults. Antonina may, I think, claim to be founded on a well-chosen subject. The treatment of that subject, however far it may be from rising to the importance of one of the grandest past events which the world has ever witnessed, is at least free from the fatal display of learning which has hopelessly damaged the popularity of the historical romance in these times. And the story (if I may be allowed to say so) has, with all its youthful crudities of execution, a certain freshness and vigour of dramatic interest, which may carry the reader to the end though the characters live in the fifth century, and the events pass in the twilight magnificence of old Rome. This is all I need say, in regard to the present edition. The critical principles that guided me in framing the story, with other explanatory matters re lating to details, will be found in the extract from the original preface, which follows these lines. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
