Autobiography 0f Edward Gibbon (extracts)(extracts)

爱德华爱德华 ·· 吉本自传吉本自传（节选）（节选）

About the AuthorAbout the Author

Edward Gibbon (1737~1794) was an English

historian. He was born in Putney ( 普特尼 ), near

London, of a prosperous family. He had little

formal education but read enormously and

omnivorously ( 无所不及的；什么都读的 ). In

1752, he was sent to Magdalen College, Oxford ( 牛津大学莫德林学院 ), but withdrawn from it in 1753

owing to his conversion to Roman Catholicism ( 罗马天主教 ). Sent to Lausanne ( 瑞士的洛桑 ) by

his father, he was formally reconverted to

Protestantism ( 新教 ) in 1754. Back in England,

Gibbon held a commission in the Hampshire ( 汉普郡 ) militia from 1759 to 1762, then traveled

abroad extensively and engaged in literary

pursuits at home. Gibbon’s outstanding work,

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire 《罗马帝国衰亡史 》 (6 vols.,

1776~1788), presents a continuous narrative from

the 2nd century A. D. to the fall of Constantinople

( 君士坦丁堡 ) in 1453. It is widely regarded as one

of the great works of historical writing.

About the TextAbout the Text

Our pieces are extracted from Edward Gibbon’s

Autobiography 《自传》 , Memoirs of His Life and

Writings 《回忆录》 , published posthumously

（死后地，死后出版地） by one of his friends. They

described Gibbon’s conceiving of his idea of

writing The History of the Decline and Fall of the

Roman Empire 《罗马帝国衰亡史》 , his

resolution, his writing, and his pleasure.

Histories make men wise ; poems witty; the mathematics

subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave ; logic and

rhetoric able to contend.

--------Francis Bacon , British philosopher

历史使人明智；诗词使人灵秀；数学使人周密；自然哲学使人深刻；伦理使人庄重；逻辑修辞学使人善辨。 ----- 英国哲学家弗朗西斯 . 培根

Every person has two education, one which he

receives from others, and one , more important,

which he gives himself. -----Edward Gibbon, British historian

每个人都受两种教育，一种来自别人，另一种更重要的是来自自己。 ---- 英国历史学家 爱德华 ·吉本

The Ruins of the Pantheon in Rome

( 罗马万神殿遗址 )

II

It was at Rome, on the 15th of October,

1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the

Capitol, while the barefooted 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.

The Catholic Friars were Singing Vespers

The Roman Temple of Jupiter

ⅡⅡ At the outset all was dark and doubtful;

even the title of the work, the true era of the

Decline and Fall of the Empire, the limits of

the introduction, the division of the chapters,

and the order of the narrative; and I was

often tempted to cast away the labor of seven

years. The style of an author should be the

image of his mind, but the choice and

command of language is the fruit of

exercise. Many experiments were made

before I could hit the middle tone between a

dull chronicle and a rhetorical declamation:

three times did I compose the first chapter,

and twice the second and third, before I was

tolerably satisfied with their effect.

Edward GibbonEdward Gibbon (1737~1794)(1737~1794)

ⅢⅢ

I am at a loss how to describe the success of the

work, without betraying the vanity of the writer.

The first impression was exhausted in a few days;

a second and third edition were scarcely adequate

to the demand; and the bookseller’s property was

twice invaded by the pirates of Dublin. My book

was on every table, and almost on every

toilette; the historian was crowned by the

taste or fashion of the day; nor was the

general voice disturbed by the barking of

any profane critic.