From Edward Gibbon's *Decline and Fall* (1776). Select the word that fits the blank. "His generals, in the early part of his reign, attempted the reduction of Ethiopia and Arabia Felix. They marched near a thousand miles to the south of the tropic; but the heat of the climate soon ______ the invaders."

The narrative: invaders marched *near a thousand miles* into the tropics — and the climate did something to them that made the conquest fail. The blank needs a verb of **defeat by environment** — *drove them back*. "Repelled" fits. - "Welcomed", "blessed", "perfected" reverse the meaning. *Repel* — to drive back, push away — the heat *drove the invaders back* from their northern campaign.