SOURCE: Brownley, Martine Watson. “Appearance and Reality in Gibbon's History.” Journal of the History of Ideas 38, no. 4 (1977): 651-66.

In the following essay, Brownley argues that Gibbon's delineation of appearance and reality throughout the Decline and Fall was an effective narrative tool for developing his major themes while sustaining the reader's interest.

A constant refusal to take anything at face value is a prominent characteristic of Edward Gibbon in both his personal life and his historical work. For the historian composing The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, an instant suspicion of the obvious proved to be an invaluable trait in sifting precious facts from the accumulated fictions of centuries. Gibbon's skeptical and practical cast of mind, along with his absolute dedication to fact, equipped him superbly for dealing with the complexities of history. One historical and artistic device used very frequently and successfully in the Decline and...