Passage (Edward Gibbon, *The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*, 1776, Chapter I): "In the second century of the Christian Æra, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valor. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government. During a happy period of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this, and of the two succeeding chapters, to describe the prosperous condition of their empire; and afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most important circumstances of its decline and fall; a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the nations of the earth." What can be most strongly inferred from the sentence "Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury"?
AGibbon regards wealth and luxury as straightforwardly beneficial to the Roman citizens.
BGibbon argues that wealth and luxury were the chief causes of Rome's decline.
CGibbon suggests that Rome's prosperity carried within it the seeds of later moral weakening, even while the empire seemed at its height.
DGibbon denies that Roman citizens experienced any wealth at all.
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. Gibbon suggests that Rome's prosperity carried within it the seeds of later moral weakening, even while the empire seemed at its height.
The pair of verbs *enjoyed and abused* is the load-bearing detail. Gibbon could have said *enjoyed* alone — that would describe pleasure without judgment. By adding *and abused*, he signals a problem within the prosperity itself: the citizens were doing something with their wealth that he marks negatively. The paragraph as a whole celebrates the second century's prosperity, but this clause plants a seed of the later decline: the very advantages of the high-empire were being misused even at its peak.
- **A** misses *abused*. Gibbon is not endorsing wealth straightforwardly.
- **C** overstates: in this paragraph Gibbon **plants** the suggestion, but he does not yet *argue* that luxury caused the decline.
- **D** is contradicted by *enjoyed... wealth and luxury*.
The inference exercises a recurring GRE skill: detecting where an author marks a topic ambivalently with a single qualifying verb or adjective.
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