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41 " Only then were the doors of the basilica opened, and the assembled company proceeded in state for prayers at the high altar before going on to Mass in the Sistine Chapel—all except the pope, who, as one of the Venetians explained in his report, “never attended these long services. "
― John Julius Norwich , Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy
42 " Of the early history of Romanus Lecapenus – or, as we must now call him, the Emperor Romanus I – all too little has come down to us. His father, known universally to contemporaries as Theophylact the Unbearable, was an Armenian peasant "
― John Julius Norwich , A Short History of Byzantium
43 " Uruk retained a certain importance, but it never recovered its former political power. Its ruins now lie isolated in the deserts of Iraq. "
― John Julius Norwich , The Great Cities in History
44 " As Edward Gibbon delightedly noted, “the most scandalous charges were suppressed: the Vicar of Christ was only accused of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy and incest. "
45 " unwinding all six foot five of him. "
― John Julius Norwich , France: A History: from Gaul to de Gaulle
46 " consistency, a virtue I have always deplored. "