Dr.
Arnold's active mind was diverted from political and theological
speculations to the study of philology, and to historical
composition. His Roman History, which he regarded as 'the chief
monument of his historical fame', was based partly upon the
researches of Niebuhr, and partly upon an aversion to Gibbon. 'My
highest ambition,' he wrote, 'is to make my history the very
reverse of Gibbon in this respect, that whereas the whole spirit
of his work, from its low morality, is hostile to religion,
without speaking directly against it, so my greatest desire would
be, in my History, by its high morals and its general tone, to be
of use to the cause without actually bringing it forward.' These
efforts were rewarded, in 1841, by the Professorship of Modern
History at Oxford. Meanwhile, he was engaged in the study of the
Sanskrit and Slavonic languages, bringing out an elaborate
edition of Thucydides, and carrying on a voluminous
correspondence upon a multitude of topics with a large circle of
men of learning. At his death, his published works, composed
during such intervals as he could spare from the management of a
great public school, filled, besides a large number of pamphlets
and articles, no less than seventeen volumes. It was no wonder
that Carlyle, after a visit to Rugby, should have characterised
Dr.
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