SOURCE: Hartog, Curt. “Time and Metaphor in Gibbon's History.” Clio 12, no. 2 (winter 1983): 153-68.

In the following essay, Hartog argues that Gibbon's conception of historical time changes over the course of the Decline and Fall, transforming his approach to events, institutions, emperors, and even his own role as historian.

Aristote, qui portoit la lumière dans les ténèbres de la nature et de l'art, est le père de la critique. Le tems, dont la justice lente, mais sûre, met enfin la vérité à la place de l'erreur, a brisé les statues du philosophe, mais a confirmé les décisions du critique.

Essai, XXIII: 37

In his first publication, the Essai sur L'Étude de la Littérature (1761), Gibbon works from the assumption that historical truth of any significance is usually hidden. In part, this notion stems from Gibbon's conception of facts, which possess relatively greater explanatory...