14. Roman Historiography of Eighteenth-Century Britain Beyond Gibbon: Ancient Norms of Empire for Moderns

Abstract

Historians were particularly drawn to ancient history, convinced that one could learn valuable lessons for modern political life from ancient experience. Following those ancient states that achieved grandness and avoiding their mistakes would endow modern states with a chance of endurance. Within the context of such expectations, Britain grew very receptive to ancient wisdom in the eighteenth century. This chapter aims to remind readers of the fact that Roman histories other than that of Gibbon were written, published, and read in Britain in the eighteenth century and that some of them were, in fact, fine examples of the Enlightenment's philosophical history. In doing so, it seeks to pin down the kinds of empire that those historians offered by way of model and warning to contemporary readers. Keywords:ancient history; eighteenth-century Britain; Gibbon; modern political life; Roman historiography