Darkness and Dawn Or, Scenes in the Days of Nero. An Historic Tale

Darkness and Dawn; Or, Scenes in the Days of Nero. An Historic Tale

I have endeavoured to choose a title for this book which shall truly describe its contents. The Darkness of which I speak is the darkness of a decadent Paganism; the Dawn is the dawn of Christianity. Although the story is continuous, I have called it Scenes in the Days of Nero, because the outline is determined by the actual events of Pagan and Christian history, more than by the fortunes of the characters who are here introduced. In other words, the fiction is throughout controlled and dominated by historic facts. The purport of this tale is no less high and serious than that which I have had in view in every other book which I have written. It has been the illustration of a supreme and deeply interesting problemthe causes, namely, why a religion so humble in its origin and so feeble in its earthly resources as Christianity, won so majestic a victory over the power, the glory, and the intellect of the civilised world. The greater part of the following story has been for some years in manuscript, and, since it was designed, and nearly completed, several books have appeared which deal with the same epoch. Some of these I have not seen. From none of them have I consciously borrowed even the smallest hint. Those who are familiar with the literature of the first century will recognise that even for the minutest allusions and particulars I have contemporary authority. Expressions and incidents which, to some, might seem to be startlingly modern, are in reality suggested by passages in the satirists, epigrammatists, and romancers of the Empire, or by anecdotes preserved in the grave pages of Seneca and the elder Pliny. I have, of course, so far assumed the liberty accorded to writers of historic fiction as occasionally to deviate, to a small extent, from exact chronology, but such deviations are very trivial in comparison with those which have been permitted to others, and especially to the great masters of historic fiction. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 47825
Author: Farrar, F. W. (Frederic William)
Release Date: Dec 31, 2014
Format: eBook
Language: English