说起爱德华·吉本 ( 1 73 7— 1 794) ,人们便立刻与世界级的史学名著《罗马帝国衰亡史》联系起来。的确 ,作为 1 8世纪的西方史学大家 ,皇皇巨著《罗马帝国衰亡史》曾化去他二十年的岁月 ,实际上耗尽了作者毕生的心血。这篇小文 ,从他写作此书过程中摭拾若干“历史的细节” , Speaking of Edward Gibbon (1: 73.7-1.794), one immediately associates one with a world-class historical masterpiece, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” Indeed, as a Western historian in the 18th century, Emperor Huang’s book The History of the Decline of the Roman Empire, Zeng Hua, went through his 20 years and in fact depleted the author’s life. This essay, from his writing of this book, picks up a number of “details of history”