(1.) Almost the whole of his subject had been as yet untouched by any preceding writer of eminence, and he had no stimulus or example from his precursors.

He united thus in himself the two characters of pioneer and artist.

(2.) The barbarous and imperfect nature of the materials with which he chiefly had to work,--dull inferior writers, whose debased style was their least defect.

A historian who has for his authorities masters of reason and language such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, and Tacitus is borne up by their genius; apt quotation and translation alone suffice to produce considerable effects; or in the case of subjects taken from modern times, weighty state papers, eloquent debates, or finished memoirs supply ample materials for graphic narrative.

But Gibbon had little but dross to deal with.