吉朋的史學與近代歐洲的古典學術

Edward Gibbon's Historiography and the Classical Scholarship of Modern Europe

本文探討18 世紀英國歷史家吉朋(Edward Gibbon, 1737-1794)的羅馬史寫作與近代早期歐洲古典學術之間的關連。吉朋一生學術盡在《羅馬帝國衰亡史》（The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire）一書，這一部六卷的鉅著處理了兩個羅馬帝國將近1300 年的衰亡史事，書寫耗費吉朋近二十年的光陰，乃是其畢生最重要的志業。這部巨構是在什麼樣的學術基礎上完成的？這是一個值得探討的學術課題。吉朋是一個鄉紳子弟，自幼接受文法學校的古典教育；青少年時期，他遠赴瑞士洛桑求學，獲得進一步的古典學術訓練。在這時期，吉朋接觸了近代法國的古典學術，並廣泛閱讀文藝復興以來歐洲古典學界的著作，從古典考訂到古物研究各種類別。在這過程中，他累積了大量有關古代羅馬歷史的材料，成為爾後書寫《羅馬帝國衰亡史》的學術基礎。吉朋雖然自身終究沒有成為一個專業的古典學者，卻瞭解古典學者研究工作的史學價值，知道如何去運用這些研究發現來照亮古代的歷史。他在《羅馬帝國衰亡史》的寫作中，巧妙地結合了近代歐洲的古典學術與18 世紀的啟蒙精神，完成了自從古典時代結束後歐洲史學上最重要的巨構。

This article investigates the connection between Edward Gibbon's account of the Roman Empire and the classical scholarship of early modern Europe. Gibbon devoted most of his scholarly life to writing The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It took him nearly twenty years to complete this masterwork. On what scholarly foundation was this masterwork based? This is an important question which deserves further inquiry. Gibbon came from a gentry family and had received a classical basic education from grammar school through his youth. He was later sent to Lausanne, Switzerland, to receive a Protestant education and it was on this venture that he was introduced into the world of French classical scholarship. He then read extensively the writings of European scholars from the Renaissance, covering classical philology and antiquarian research. In this way, he accumulated a large amount of historical knowledge on Roman history, laying the foundation for his later work on the Roman Empire. Gibbon himself never became a professional classical scholar, but he understood very well the value of the researches of classical scholars, and knew how to make use of their findings to illuminate ancient history. In writing The History, he shrewdly combined the classical scholarship of modern Europe and the spirit of the Enlightenment, thus giving the world the greatest historical writing since classical times.