Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1852-03-04

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ter. Thucydides was equally truthful,
but more conversant with the motives
and character of men in their political
relations. He took infinite pains 10
make himself thoroughly acquainted
with transactions that occurred in his
own day, and which became the subject
OF his own narrative:
Ii is said. even. that persons were EN-
ployed by him TO obtain Information
from both The beIIigerent powers, for his
use, while writing the history OF the
Peloponnesian war.
He was one oil the most eminent citi-
zens OF the Alhenian republic, educated
under the institutions of Solon, and
trained in all the political wisdom those
institutions had developed, in the two
centuries since their establishment. A
more profound intellect never applied it,
sell 10 historical investigation IA more
clear-sighted and impartial Judge
OF human conduct never dealt with the
fortunes and acts OF political communi-
ties.
The work Of Herodotus is graphic,
fluent, dramatic, and ethical in the high
est degree; but it il not the work of
free citizen Of a free republic, person.
ally experienced in the conduct OF It's af-
Ialrs. The History Of the Peloponne-
sian War on the other hand, could only
have been produced by man who ad-
ded to vast genius, deep personal in
sight into the workings oil various pub
lie institutions.
As Thucydides himself says, his his
tory was not tor the entertainment OF the
moment, bu. 10 be IA possession elorev-
er."
There can, il seems 10 me, be no rca-
sonable doubt, that the first works, by
which man expressed his thoughts and
feelings in an orderly composition, were
essentially poetical. In the earliest wri-
tings. Of which we know anything with
dislinctness. we have an union, or ming
ling, Of poetry and fact, embodying the
traditions and history OF the people
among which they arose.
Like other intellectual culture. this
form Of history appeared first in the
East and, from the days Of Moses and
Joshua, down 10 our times, it has there
retained substantially the same charac-
ter. mean, it has been a remarkable
mixture OF the spirit OF history and Of
epic poetry. In Greece, we may OBJ
serve originally the same state Of things
but the two forms Of composition soon
became separated, though the Greek
historical art. when highest, never los,s
all lis relations 10 The epic,
The earliest Greek poets were reli-
gious and historical poets dealing in
the traditions and mythology of their
country, and so continued down through
Homer. Herodo,us was by birth an
Asia,ic Greek, and was quite imbued
with the Oriental spirit. In his time, Of
public records there were none, or at
the m ost, there were only local registers
OF public events, and their dates, such
for instance, as those kept by the prlesti
hood in the temples at Delphi and Ar
gos, or the registers Of partc ular iami-
lies. He travelled therefore to collect
the materials for his history. But he
made ol them one whole, and laid one
idea at the bottom, with as much epic
simplicity as Homer did IN the lliad.-
His subject was the contest OF Greece
with the Persians, and the triumph Of
Grecian liberty, or, more strictly, the
great Grecian victory over the barba-
rians who had conquered the world, as
then known. The relations between
Herodolus and Homer are not TO be
mistaken; he not only has episodes, like
the long one about Egypt, and formal
speeches, which were common in histo-
rical works, till the sixteenth century OF
our era, and have not been unknown
since, but he has Dialogues,
One of his series Of speeches, which
partakes of the character of dialogue,
shows a remarkable advancement in po-
litical knowledge for the age ol Pericles;
mean that in which the conspirators
against the Magi of Persia, previously
TO the elevation Of Darius, discuss the
different forms Of government, much in
the spirit of Montesquieu. But all these
things are kept in their proper places
by Hcrodotus. He feels the conneXion
OF his subject all the way through: how
one event proceeds from another, and
how all tends to The principal result, or
contributes TO il directly.
In Thucydldes, the art of history ie
further advanced, though he lived very
little later than Herodotus, and probably
had read or card his history, though
that is doubted,
Thucydides did not, indeed, make
one whole of his work, for he did not
survive the war, whose history he I'M
dcrtook TO relate but he is less crcdu-.
lous than llerodotus he has no proper
dialogue he Is more compact; he m
dulgcs very Ilttle in episodes lac draws
and his speeches are more
like formal, stately discussions. And
he says of them, they are such as he
either heard himself, or received from
those who did hear them, and he states
that he gives them in their true SUBJ
stance.
There is nothing to create doubt
that personally he heard The Grafton OF
Pcricles; and IL is remarkable that,
throughout The most hourishing period
nj Greek literature, both poetlcal and
historical, productions were composed
10 be heard rather than TO he reud and
The practice of listening To their rehear-
sails led the Greek people to attain great
accuracy, as well as retontiveness ol
In short, Ilerodoius's work seems
natural, fresh production of the soil
that Of Thucydides belongs to moe
advanced state oil culture. Quintilian
says Of the former, III Herodoio omRid
'eniier .fuunf, of the latter, DeHSUs ct bre-
ris t semper insidns sibi Xenophon ia
his Hellenica, continues Thucydides.-
lie VAS a military leader and familiar
with the affairs oi state, and though not
80 deep a thinker was n more graceful