SOURCE: Pla, Maurice. “A Masterpiece of Irony: Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.¹” Caliban 8 (1972): 55-70.

In the following essay, Pla argues that Gibbon's frequent use of irony in the Decline and Fall, often directed at Christians, women, and powerful men, offers rich insight into the author and helps elevate the historical work to the level of literature.

Can there possibly be such a thing as an English Voltaire? Can our caustic, grating ironist have a counterpart in a country which has long been known as the ideal ground for the flowering of the far gentler graces of humour? One notable exception immediately obtrudes itself as one name emerges: Jonathan Swift; and yet after reading the work of one of Swift's contemporaries, Edward Gibbon, and more especially his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, one would no doubt experience...