1910–1911
Britannica 11th
Encyclopaedia Britannica · 11th edition
EMINENCE (Lat. eminrntia), a title of honour now confined to the cardinals of the Church of Rome. It was originally given as a complimentary title to emperors, kings, and then to less conspicuous persons. The Roman empire of the 4th century adopted from the " vanity of the East the forms and ceremonies of ostentatious greatness." Gibbon includes in the " profusion of epithets " by which " the purity of the Latin language was debased," and which were lavished on " the principal officers of the empire," " your Sincer…
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- Vol. 9, pp. 339-339