New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-02-24

The work OF Herocotus ID efsPhe, "uens'
,c and ethical IN the hehes, cegree but II IL not
re uo,k Of free citizen OF Tree kepuonc'
nersopally experienced IN tue concuc' OF us anau
Tn. h.,orv OF the Pelopor esian war, on the o'neI
hand, could only have oeen ,n.o The
:. ortir, & of various public lDsttutons.
A, Tnucyoides himself says, ms history was
written not for the entertainments Oh VIC "oheH''
my 10 be " a possession forever , -.
TT. rs can n seems to me, be no reasonable oount
u tie frst works by which man expressed MS
,houetts snd feelings IN an ofoefIy conposlHon'
we've essentially poetlcal In the earnest VIKINGS,
.mbich We Know anything with distinctness, We
Rave an union or minging, OF poetry and fact, en-
bo6yirg the Traditions and history OF the people
among which they arose. IL. .L;. =, r,,.>
snreared fret IL the East and, from The days oil
Moses and Joshua. Gown TO our own times IL mas
there retained substantially me same chaiacler. .
msan i, has been remarkable mixture OF tae spirit
~ History ard of Epic poetry. In Greece We may
observe Origin aHy the same state OF things but the
two forms OF composition soon became sepalaleu,
tbonsb The Greek Historical Art when highest
never loses all its relations to the Epic The ear
hest Greek poets religious and hlstonc poets
re alirg in the traditions and mytnology OF tneh
country and so Continued down, through Homer
usrofoius was by biIth an Asiatic Greek and was
quite mbued with the 0Tit nlal splfI In his time,
II pubIc records shere we're none, or Of the most,
there were OF ly local registers oil pubic events ana
their dates such for instance, as those kept Oy the
nriesthood in the temples al Delphi and Argos, or
tie registers of particular iamlles. lie EaYeleu,
therefore 70 collect the materials for his History
But he ade Of them ore whole and Iald one i1 ,
At The bottom with as much Epic simplicity as Ho-
rner did in the HAD His subject was the contest OF
Greece with the Persisns and the triumph OF Gre
clan liberty, or, more strictly, the great GEecan
Victory over the barbarians who had conquered the
word, as then known. The relations bet"eeh nc,
Looee' mas episodes Ike the long one abou: Esypt'
and formal speeches, which were common III MS
toYlca works till the sixteenth century OF our era
and have not been unkno WI since, but he has GA
One nj he series OF speeches, winch par
takes of the character of dialogue, shows re-
markabl advancement IN political knowleose Ior
the age Of Perices; l mean that IN which the con-
snirators againtt the Magi OF PeIsa previously to
the elevation OF Darius, discuss the different forms
of government, much IN the spirit Oh Mohtesqueu
Bur all these thngs kept IN their proper places
by Hero6oius. He feels the connection OF MS sub
jeCt all the way through how one event proceeos
from another and how ali tends 10 the principal re-
suit, or contributes to 1t directly
In Thucy ddes, the art Of History is further ad-
vsnced though he lived very little later than Herod-
Oius, and probably had read or nedrd MS ms'oIy'
though that is doubted.
Thucydides did Lot, indeed, make one whole Of
his work for he did not survive the war whose MS
tbo,y he undertook to relate but ne is less credu-
icus than He odctus he has no proper dialogue ne
is more compact he INDUCES very little IN EPISODES
be draws characters, and his speeches are more NE
formal, stately dicussions. And ne 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 substance.
There is nothing TO create DOUBT tnst personally
he heard the Grafton of Pericles and it is remarka
Bile that throughout the most fourishing period OF
Greek Literature, both poetcal and historical pro-
duc,ions were composed to be heard, rather than to
be read and the practice of listening to their re-
hearsals led the Greek people to attain great accu-
racy, as well as retentlveness OF memory.
In short, Herodotuss work seems natural, fresh
production of the soil that of Thucydides belongs to
more advanced state of culture. Qunctilian says
of the former, In HsrOd0to omnia lenter fun OF the
latter Densus ct treris ct semper nsans si,. Keno
ban in oil Thrcvfldeg
was military leader and familiar with the affairs oil
state, ard though not so deep thinker was more
graceful and easy writer. Polybius living IN much
later peIod, defective in sty e, but Is wise and
sensible author. His object is not merely to sho
what has been but attempt the instruction Of the
future making his work. what he calls denonsfra-
history, fitted for the use Of statesmen He is the
last Of the really good Greek historians.
The ROMANS had tie great Greek masters in prose
and poetry all before them, and initiated them In
every thing, but approached their models neary,
only IN EloQuence and History. Like the Greeks,
too, they had early poetcal histories historical e-
gelds, songs &c. EnDius wrote a sort OF Epic His
Wy ~ vi NUM-. o%eai, vne of tho most tiDguished
OF All great men, wrote accounts OF what ne had
cone, or What related directly to himself The
cicalness, purify and precision etyi. a.
Characteristic OF him as any of his great achieve
~, s,".,----.-..- upon moces Each OF
his two remaining histories is an Epic whole
short, indeed, but complete fashioned with the
greatest exactness and inspiLed with dignity and
staeliness of style, which Caesar did not seek, and
which would not have been fitting for his personal
memoirs.
LIvy had another purpose there is an Epic COM
petebess IN his great work though that work has
come Gown TO us In a mutilsted state. Majesfas
poIuii Roman" was his subject and he sacrifices
much to IT. even, not unfYequently, the rigor Of
Truth. His style is rich and flowing, some one speaks
OF Linn idcfed ubertdS. HIS descriptions excel
lent Inceed, there is a nobleness and grandeur
about his whole work. well fitted to his magnificent
purpose IL writing II.
1aci;us comes later, when he could no longer feel
proud OF his county as Liyy had done. He had
all the spirit and the power Of Thucydides. Both
were great, upright men, dlssatfed with their times
the one, because OF the asceIdancy Of demaeogues
aDore he people, the other with tae imperial wees
and the growing Generalization OF his age Tacitus
is however, fee from passion, and is wise states
manhke ard profound writer, Throughout. OF both
his History and Annals large portions are lost We
cannst, therefore, tell how much OF completeness
and proportion there may have been in either Bu.
the nature OF the period he discusses in each
period. as he says opimum caslbus atrox prdelils
olscors secltionlbus, ipsa etam pace seyum," for
pace pCttca oTnsmeB not less than the severity Of
his Own nature. In character drawing he is hardly
excelled by any one BY SINGLE dash OF his pencil
he sometimes throws out likeness, which all feel
sno wlecee, and yet i, has been thought that
some degree OF falling of In the purity and elegance
oil the Latin Historical style is dlsceraable IN his
pages.
Oh the Romsn writer's, my preference is strongly
Tor salutt. i admire bis reach of thought, his clear
Less Of style, as we'll as his accuracy of narration.
ne is suhcieLtly concise he is contentious without
beng meager or obscure, aud his power of personal
ara lnoilduai descrpton is remarkable. There
ale, neeed, IN bis style some roughne sses belong.
mg 10 the Roman tongue at earlier age, but they
seem 10 strengthen the structure OF his sentences,
"thout especially njuring their beauty. No char
ac'eI craving can well exceed his delineation OF
Catahne, his account OF Jugurtha, or his parallel
bei"een easaf and Cato. | have thought some
times, that l Saw resenbances between his terse
and Io~eIiul periods, ard the remarks and sayings
OF VI Johnson, as they appear, not in his stately
perform aIces but III the record OF his conversations
by Boswell.
iutl, to refresh myself for the preparation OF this
hoeIsss was struck by the coincidence OF trans
aclon narrated by him, with one which we have
seen 'eiy recently IN oUT own country
Mhen !usuftha had put to death Hiempsal and ex-
ptneo Aoherba tIom his righsful throne tho latter
Nn0 Vas Dolnln Numldia, and not in Hungary, came
10 Rome to invoke, what should call, the inter
fthilon CT the Roman people. His speech deliv-
eleu On that occasion, IN the Senate as Salust has
gwen 1t, is one OF the most touching ever made by
fIeyln ffor inn,