"Many a sober Christian would rather admit that a wafer is
God than that God is a cruel and capricious tyrant."
 English
historian and scholar, the supreme historian of the Enlightenment,
best known as the author of the monumental THE DECLINE AND FALL
OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, often considered as the greatest historical
work written in English. "It was at Rome... as I sat musing amidst
the ruins of the Capitol, while barefoot friars were singing vespers
in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and
fall of the city first started to my mind." However, Gibbon's first
works were written in French.
Edward Gibbon was born at Putney in South London into a prosperous
family. His father was a wealthy Tory Member of Parliament who went
into seclusion and left him to the care of an aunt. Gibbon was a
sickly child and his education at Westminster and at Magdalene College,
Oxford, was irregular. He was expelled from Magdalene College for
turning to Roman Catholicism and sent, in 1753 by his father, to
Lausanne Switzerland. He boarded with a Calvinist pastor and rejoined
the Anglican fold. In Lausanne he fell in love with Suzanne Curchod,
who eventually married Jacques Necker. Their relationship was ended
by his father and Gibbon remained unmarried for the rest of his
life. Suzanne became the mother of the sage Madame de Staël.
From 1759 to 1762 Gibbon hold a commission in the Hampshire militia,
reaching the rank of colonel. Before 1763 Gibbon had considered
various subjects as worthy of the type of philosophical analysis
that he wished to apply to history: the life of Sir Walter Raleigh,
the history of Switzerland, and others. In 1764 he visited Rome
and was inspired to write the history of the city from the death
of Marcus Aurelius to the year 1453. After his father died Gibbon
found himself in some difficulties, but he was able to settle in
London to proceed with his great work. The first volume appeared
in 1776, with public reaction to Gibbon's ironical treatment of
the rise of Christianity. Like Voltaire, Gibbon was himself a deist
who had little appreciation of the metaphysical side of religion.
He examined unprejudiced the secular side of religion as a social
phenomenon like any other. Religion did not have for Gibbon special
privileges.
 Between
1774 and 1783 Gibbon sat in the House of Commons, and became a lord
commissioner of trade and plantations. In 1774 he was elected to
Dr Johnson's Club. From 1783 Gibbon spent much of his time in Lausanne
and in England with Lord Sheffield (John Baker Holroy) in his Sussex
and his London House. Lord Sheffield prepared later Gibbon's MEMOIRS
OF MY LIFE AND WRITINGS for publication (1796) and MISCELLANEOUS
WORKS (1796).
The last three volumes of The History were published in
1788. Although Gibbon's conclusions have been modified, his command
of historical perspective and literary style has preserved his place
as the forerunner of English historiographers. On the other hand,
his personal habits were peculiar - according to some contemporary
comment Gibbon was so filthy that one could not stand close to him.
How did Lord Sheffield manage to do so?
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788) -
Gibbon himself was grateful to Jean Mabillon (1632-1707), Bernard
Montfasucon (1655-1741), and Ludovico Muratori (1672-1741) for
their collections of facts and documents. The work covers more
than 13 centuries from the 2nd century AD to the fall of Constantinople
in 1453. Christianity is dealt with in detail; he examines the
encroachment of the Teutonic tribes who eventually held the Western
Empire in fear, the rise of Islam, and the Crusades. Gibbon viewed
the Roman Empire as a single entity in undeviating decline from
the ideals of political and intellectual freedom that had characterized
the classical literature he had read. For him, the material decay
of Rome was the effect and symbol of moral decadence. With powerful
narrative, fluid and musical prose, and persuasive arguments the
work has a permanent place of honour in historical literature.
 "In
the second century of the Christian era, 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 valour. 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
(A.D. 98-180) 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."
For further reading: a standard biography by D.M. Low
(1937); Edward Gibbon: A Reference Guide by Patricia B. Craddick,
Margaret Craddock Huff (1987); Gibbon's Solitude by W.B. Carnochan
(1987); Edward Gibbon: Making History by Roy Porter (1988); Edward
Gibbon and Empire, ed. by Rosamond McKitterick and Roland Quinault
(1997); Melancholy Duty by Stephen Paul Foster (1997); Impartial
Stranger by Peter Cosgrove (1999) - See also: Samuel Johnson -
Gibbon was also a member of the circle that was formed around
him - Note: In his youth in Switzerland Gibbon also met Voltaire,
who had settled in 1755 near Geneva. - "Gibbon is not merely a
master of the pageant and the story; he is also the critic and
the historian of the mind." (Virginia Woolf).
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