Instructions for history with a character of the most considerable historians, ancient and modern / out of the French, by J. Davies of Kidwelly. Instructions pour l'histoire. English Rapin, René, 1621-1687. 1680 Approx. 202 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 78 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A58058 Wing R262 ESTC R22576 12490073 ocm 12490073 62341 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A58058) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 62341) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 290:1) Instructions for history with a character of the most considerable historians, ancient and modern / out of the French, by J. Davies of Kidwelly. Instructions pour l'histoire. English Rapin, René, 1621-1687. Davies, John, 1625-1693. [14], 134 p. Printed by A.G. and J.P. ..., London : 1680. First edition in English of René Rapin's Instructions pour l'histoire. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Historiography -- Early works to 1800. 2005-06 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-08 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2005-08 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion INSTRUCTIONS FOR History : WITH A Character of the most Considerable Historians , Ancient and Modern . Out of the French , By J. DAVIES of Kidwelly . LONDON , Printed by A. G. and J. P. dwelling near the Grate in Little Britain . M.DC.LXXX . TO THE Worthily Honoured , Sir GEORGE WHARTON , Baronet . IT is the unavoidable Destiny of some to be highly oblig'd by those , to whom their good Fortune has made them any thing particularly known . Not that those Favours are to be attributed to ought of more than ordinary Merit on their side , by whom they were received ; but purely to that Munificence and Transcendency of Generosity , which is so predominant in certain persons , that they cannot forbear endeavouring to render the Conditions of those , whom they once take notice of , more comfortable then they found them . That these have been my very Circumstances , I have had occasion heretofore to acknowledge to others ; and I am now to make the same Acknowledgment to your self , from whom , in my most pressing Exigencies , I have receiv'd such seasonable Reliefs , as give me just cause to celebrate the Liberalities of so great a Benefactor . As to the small Piece which this humble Address ushers to your hands , I find it without any Author's Name prefix'd thereto . Of which Concealment of himself , as also of his Design in the ensuing INSTRUCTIONS , since he has given an Account in a particular Preface , I thought fit to give the English Reader the satisfaction of that too , that they who shall henceforth concern themselves in the publishing of any thing by way of History , may take their Measures from this little Treatise , and before they go any further , compute the Sacredness and Extent of their Undertaking . I have onely to add the retributory Devotions of such as are highly sensible how highly they are oblig'd , and to pray for the Continuation of a Life and Health , which has been so beneficial to several Persons , and particularly to , Honoured Sir , Your most Humble , and much obliged Servant , J. DAVIES . THE Original Author TO THE READER . I Am not so well conceited of my self , or my Work , as to set my Name before it . For , besides that it is not a throughly-shap'd Project of the manner how History should be written , and that the very Project it self is the result of such a reading of Historians , as may be thought superficial enough , the natural distrust I have of my self , puts me into a fear , that either Impatience or Precipitation has wrested out of my hands what could not have continued there much longer . But not to create a disgust in the Publick , for the present I here make it , by undervaluing it so far , I shall think it no trouble to acknowledge , That this Work is a kind of Abridgment of what has been written upon this subject , by the greatest men of the first and last Ages ; That it is an Extract of what passed ( that was most rational ) in the Apprehensions of Dionysius Halicarnassaeus ▪ in his Answer to Pompey , requiring his Sentiment upon the Greek Historians , and his criticizing Judgment upon their different Characters ; That it is a Copy of Lucian's most judicious Reflections , in that admirable Treatise which he writ , of the manner how History ought to be written ; and that in short , the Sentiments which I advance in this Discourse , are not so much my own , as those of Francesco Patrici , in his Dialogues , those of Girolamo Marucci , Agostino Mascardi , Paolo Beni , Luis Cabrera , and the other modern Spanish and Italian Authors , who have treated of this matter . But as it is possible that I may have injur'd their Conceptions , by intermixing my own therewith , I am to declare , That I do not think my Reputation concern'd to persuade my Readers that it may be otherwise . They are not Laws which I impose , as having not either Authority or Jurisdiction to do any such thing ; but they are at most but simple Advertisements , which every one may take as he pleases ; so far would I be thought from giving Instructions to any one , by a title which will argue somewhat of Vanity to those who are Lovers of Modesty , that I would have the World assur'd of my readiness to receive Directions from all others . For if I have not wit enough to be as exact as so important a Design requires I should be , I have judgment enough to be timorous and distrustful of my self . I am further to avoid the Imputation of assuming to my self the honour of a counterfeit Modesty in suppressing my Name , to acknowledge that my concealing my self proceeds somewhat from Vanity ; for I am too coy to make a discovery of my self , knowing as I do , that in an Age so apprehensive and critical as ours is , a man must think it matter of Humiliation to declare himself an Author . Nay the rigour is so great , that there is not any Merit , howe're so well it may be established , that will exempt any one from it ; and it now seems to be a kind of presumption , for a man to commit himself openly to the Judgement of the Publick , which grows daily more and more delicate and humorous , and that in a Juncture of time when Censure favours no man. It is certain also , that there is so much wisdom , for a man not to pretend to any great talent of Capacity , and that there is so much judicious caution in being modest , that I should in those passages wherein I advance any thing of my own , have mollified my Expression with Aristotle's ( Peradventure ) or Cicero's ( It seems ) so to be the less positive , and to give my Sentiment with more reservedness ; if that had been suitable to the Simplicity in which I use to express my self . For as soon as a man has acquir'd a mean degree of Wisdom , he is very cautious of being peremptory and decisive , in an Age so obstinate and opiniatrous as ours is . And therefore ill luck betide him who decides . Be it noted further , that this Discourse which I make upon History , is not at all of the Character of that of Lucian , who commends those that write well for no other reason , than that he may blame and censure those who write ill ; and under the Approbation he gives good Authors , conceals a smart Satyr against the bad ones . That is not my humour , as having no pique against any one . I pretend onely to open their eyes , who have their Sences attentive , to make them comprehend how that a man ought to tremble , when he concerns himself in the writing of History , wherein it is so hard a matter to come off well ; and that the particular Judgment which Dionysius Halicarnassaeus passes upon Thucydides , should startle all wise Historians . In fine , to close up all with a word of the Character of the Work , after I had spoken of the Workman : I declare , that Sencefulness , with an exact observance of Simplicity , is more conspicuous in these Instructions , than any political Subtilty ; which is the thing that the more inquisitive sort of people do most look for in History , in regard that Politicks is the vainest of all the Sciences ; and that senceful Reflections are the most universal and most solid Groundwork of the other . I do not pretend to offer all that might be said upon this matter ; and possibly I may some time or other say more of it , if the Publick give a kind Entertainment to the present Labour . The Heads . THe Design of the Work 1 I. How History ought to be written 3 II. What it is to write Nobly 4 III. What it is to write with a constant Contexture of sound Sence 7 IV. What it is to write Purely 11 V. Of the Simplicity of Writing 14 VI. The Matter of History 19 VII . The Form of History 24 VIII . The Design and End of History 28 IX . That Truth is the onely means whereby History advances towards its end , and how it is found 31 X. The Style proper to History 36 XI . Whether the Noble Style , or the Florid , be more proper for History 40 XII . Narration 44 XIII . Transitions 50 XIV . The Circumstances of Narration 53 XV. Motives 58 XVI . Figures 64 XVII . Passions 67 XVIII . Descriptions 70 XIX . Harangues 73 XX. The Characters of Persons 78 XXI . Reflections and Sentences 83 XXII . Digressions 88 XXIII . The Eloquence proper to History 94 XXIV . Other Imbellishments that may be imploy'd in History 98 XXV . The Sentiments which ought to be conspicuous and pr●dominant in History 102 XXVI . What Genius the Historian ought to be of 106 XXVII . The Morality of the Historian 113 XXVIII . A Judgment of Historians 123 Instructions FOR HISTORY . The Design of the Work. THE Gust of the present Age seems at length to make some progress towards its Perfection : And it seems also , that in all things we proceed in some measure according to the Dictates of sound Sence , that we esteem what is real and solid , and that we are not able any longer to endure what is either false or frivolous . This is the Sentiment of all rational persons , which is the more substantial part of those who are concern'd in Judging , though possibly it be the least . But there is not any thing makes a greater discovery of this Discernment , than the Disgust men have for Romances , and whatever has any tendency thereto . Insomuch that as this Love of Truth and sound Sence is a disposition to the Love of History ; so let us accordingly make our advantage of so favourable a Conjuncture to serve the publick , answerably to its own inclination ; let us exercise our selves in what can make us accomplish'd in that Art ; let us apprehend the Excellency of it , and let us instruct our selves in what is requisite for our making a succesful advancement therein . For what Genius is there not requisite for that purpose ? And what can be imagined more excellent than History , which knows how to do justice to Virtue , by the Eternization of Vertuous Actions ? And this in my Judgment is that which may contribute , to the perfection whereof that kind of Writing is capable , which now seems to assume a Supremacy over all the others , if this Love of sound Sence , which aims at its own Establishment , may endure , in opposition to the different Gusts , which a Fantastic Humour or Vanity endeavours to introduce from time to time , by counterfeit Idea's of Ingenuity . I. How History ought to be written . THere is not any thing more difficult , than for a man precisely to Affirm , which is the best way of writing History . Every one ought to follow that which he finds most in use in the Age wherein he writes , and most conformable to the Gust and Inclinations of the People to whom he writes . But is that enough to please Posterity ? That is an humorous , severe , and incorruptible Judge , who gives its approbation onely to true Merit . Let us therefore endeavour to find out the ways , whereby we may deserve its Suffrage . When a men writes nobly , with a constant Current of sound Sence , Purity , and Simplicity of expression , he always pleases , what Language soever he writes in . These are universal Principles , which are suitable to the Humours of all Nations : for there are no other general Rules in the world , than those of Reason and sound Sence . 'T is by these that Thucydides , Xenophon , Salust , Caesar , Titus Livius , Buchanan , Mariana , and such others have always pleas'd , though they writ in Times , and amongst Nations of so different a Genius ; insomuch that a man may be assured of pleasing when he writes as they have done . For what Grandeur , what Judgment , what Politeness , but above all what a sincere Simplicity is there not observable in the works of those great men ! II. What it is to write Nobly . A Man must therefore beset himself to write nobly , when he makes it his business to write History . For when a man fancies himself speaking to all the World , and to all Ages , he assumes a Character which gives him Authority to lift up his Voice , because he speaks to Kings , Princes , and the Grandees of all Countries and all Ages , and is become in some manner the Master and Instructor of all Mankind . There is not any thing therefore more essential to History , than for a man to give his Discourse a noble and lofty strain , to speak as he ought to do . So that the Historian quits the mean and familiar Language , that by the Excellency of Expression he may answer the Excellency of the things which he has to say . He accustoms himself to make noble Reflections on whatever comes into his mind , that by the choice of Words he may make it his design to give weight to his Thoughts , and vigour to his Discourse , by a careful quest after whatever may heighten and ennoble it , in order to the bestowing a Character of Grandeur on all he says . The Models in this kind of writing are Thucydides amongst the Greeks , and Livy amongst the Latines . They are the onely Authors , who have been able to keep up that lofty Style , with the same spirit and the same tone , without falling into the mean and vulgar way of Expression ; upon which account they have had but few Imitators . Herodotus , out of an humour to keep too close to Homer , would needs sometimes dwindle in those passages which required Elevation ▪ as Longinus has observ'd . Tacitus , who many times is great onely upon the score of his being concise , is not a very good Model to be propos'd to any ; for the Grandeur of his Style has not any thing that 's natural . And in the general it is requisite , that we distinguish between the counterfeit Grandeur and the real . It is not in the affectation of far-fetch'd Terms , nor in lofty Expressions ; 't is not in an overflux of big words , nor yet in the sumptuousness of discourse , that we are to make that Excellency of Style to consist , which History requires : wherein Ammianus Marcellinus , Lampridius , and most of the Historians of the lower Class , were deceived . It consists in a lofty Expression , but modest , and in a Discourse capable of keeping up the highest matters , and raising up the weakest . It consists , in fine , in that temperament of Grandeur , which Quintilian gives true Eloquence . It is not sufficient for a man to be ingenious , but he must have a particular Genius , to write after that manner , and to give a cer●ain Elevation to what he says , by the Choice of the Terms , and by the Grandeur of the Sentiments . That Talent is so rare , that if we dash out of the number of Historians those who have not written thus , the List of the true ones will be very small . III. What it is to write with a constant Contexture of sound Sence . TO write with that Contexture of sound Sence , is to go directly to the main end , in what matter soever a man writes , without wandering or amusing himself by the way . It consists further in an Exposal of things with a kind of Prudence and Reservedness , without abandoning himself either to the heat of his Imagination , or the vivacity of his Wit. It consists in the suppressing of what may be superfluous in the Expression , such as are those Adverbs and Epithetes , which extenuate things in aggravating them ; in not leaving any thing that is insignificant , languishing , or fruitless ; in a generous Retrenchment of what ought not to be said , how plausible soever it may be ; in attributing always less to what is splendid than to what is solid ; in not discovering any thing of fire or heat , where he needs express onely what is to be done seriously and in cold bloud ; in examining all his Conceptions , and measuring all his Words with that aequilibrium of Sence , and that exquisiteness of Judgment , which lets nothing slip but what is exact and judicious . It consists , in fine , in having the strength to resist the temptation , which a man naturally has to make ostentation of his Wit ; as that impertinent Historian does , who in the Defeat of the Parthians by the Emperour Severus , makes Osroes escape , by getting into a Cave planted about with Laurels and Myrtles , wherein he makes himself ridiculous , while he thinks to be divertive ; which is one of the most slippery places that an Author could fall upon . And that senceful Spirit , that Character of Wisdom , which History requires , is a kind of Attention over ones self , which does not allow it self any Exaggeration , and which takes continual Precautions against those daring Imaginations whereto he is subject , whose Mind is too quick and volatile , or over fertile ; that he may set down great things in few words , as Salust does , who holds great Councils , gives Battels , takes Cities , conquers Kingdoms , with a shortness of Discourse , and a swiftness of Expression , which is understood at half a word . Tacitus has all the Sence that is requisite , answerably to his close way of writing ; but he has not enough of it to be intelligible . A man is sometimes put into an impatience at the Precipitations of that Author , who loses much of his Gracefulness , and falls into Obscurity , meerly upon this score , that he will needs confine in too few words what ought to have a greater Extent . The humour he has to be too concise puts me out of all humour , by reason of the little Instruction he gives me , in things which he does not sufficiently unravel . Polybius and Appianus are sometimes too liberal of their Discourse : and there is a kind of Judicious Taciturnity , which raises a better comprehension of the Grandeut of the things which are spoken of , than all the words that are too weak to do it . 'T is a Master-talent to suppress what cannot well be said ; and it is the principal part of an Historian , to distinguish between that which admits of Extension and Restriction , and so to give every thing its just measure , that there may be a strict observance of decorum . For Livy , as diffus'd as he is , does not tire out the Reader 's patience , because he is judicious where he seems to be most tedeous . But Thucydides , keeping too closely to sound Sence , does sometimes fall into a kind of harshness and drought , which a man would hardly pardon in him , were it not for the Purity and Excellency of his Style . So hard a matter is it to write with a strict observance of Sence , without losing somewhat of those Beauties , which might be imployed if a man were not so prudent . But however let an Author be still of this persuasion , that the greatest Beauty of any Production is always the sound Sence of it : men are wearied with all else , but sound Sence never tires them . It is by this constant current of sound Sence that Philip Comines , notwithstanding the impure and unrefin'd Language of his Age , has merited the esteem and approbation of ours . But of all the modern Historians there is not any one has writ with a greater observance of the senceful Character , than Mariana in his History of Spain . It is a Master-piece of the last Ages , onely upon the score of that Quality . There is observable through that whole Work a wise Precaution , which never allows him to expatiate too much in the most plausible passages , nor yet to betray any negligence in those that are not such : and that so judicious an Evenness of Hand , which is always the same in the inequality of the matters , treated of by that Author , is but little known to the Historians of these last times . But the Talent of a senceful Reflection on things is not sufficient , without that of purely expressing them . IV. What it is to write Purely . AN Historian , who makes it his design to be read by Posterity , ought to study the purity of writing . Without that insinuating and inveigling quality , a History is likely to be but of a short continuance . 'T is through this very want of Purity of Style , that so many Greek and Latin Historians mentioned by Photius and other Collectors of Libraries , have been lost in the general Wreck of so many other Works , and that of an almost infinite number , whereof Vossius gives us an account , there are remaining onely such as have written rationally enough to deserve reading . A man therefore ought not to concern himself in the writing of History , if he be not a perfect Master of his own Language , and critical in the Purity of it . For when a man has once propos'd to himself the Instruction of others , his business is to express himself clearly , that he may be understood ; and when he once speaks well , he forces the Audience of all people ; besides that , it is to be imagined he says nothing as he should do , when he speaks not well ; and this Clearness of Expression , which is the greatest divertisement of History , cannot be found but in a pure Style . This Purity consists principally in the Propriety of the Words , in the natural disposition and distribution of the Phrases , and in the prudent and moderate use of Figures . The Style ought not to admit of any thing that is improper , far-fetch'd , harsh , mean , over-daring , or obscure . Herodotus had this Purity of Style , and excells therein above all the Greek Authors , as Caesar does above all the Latines . Mens minds grew rustly in the subsequent Ages , wherein there was not any remarkable track of the Purity of the Ancients . But Q. Curtius , out of a desire to be too polite , has lost somewhat of that grand and majestick Air , which is so becoming in Salust and Livy . Certain it is , that he flourishes too much in certain passages ; as for instance , in that of the description of the River Marsyas , at the entrance of the third Book ; in that of the Adventure of Abdolominus , who of a Gardiner became a King , in the fourth ; in that of the Siege of Tyre , and several others ; wherein there is observable an Affectation of Elegance not consistent with the Gravity of History , which cannot admit of any thing that is affected . Moreover , that Purity of Elocution , which is so necessary to History , ought to be kept up with an observance of great Sence . For there 's nothing so flat or insipid , as Elegance void of things , and such as says nothing . Nay , it sometimes happens , that an over-studied Purity of Discourse in great Subjects , abates somewhat of their Grandeur , as it appears in the History of the Indies by Maffaeus , and in the Wars of Flanders by Cardinal Bentivoglio . Both those Authors made it too much their business to please by the Politeness of their Discourse ; not reflecting , that the most adorned Beauties are not always those that are most taking , and that the most sumptuous Ornaments disguize the Wearers , as soon as they are excessive and disproportionate . V. Of the Simplicity of Writing . THere is also a further Obligation incumbent upon an Historian , to observe a Simplicity of Elocution , to avoid the Air that is pompous and affected , both which are contrary to the grand Character which History is to look after ; in regard that whatever is great ceases to be so , as soon as it is devested of that Simplicity which it ought to have ; and what is joyntly simple and great doubles the Grandeur of it , and becomes sublime . Nor is there any thing that instructs better , or more cajoles the publick Belief , than that Simplicity of Style , which was so much cultivated by the Ancients , and is so little known to the Moderns : whatever exaggerates has a counterfeit Air ; and Nature , which ought to be imitated in all things , expresses her self with as much simplicity as may be . But to make a full discovery of that Simplicity , which is so necessary to , and consistent with , a Grandeur of Style , it is to be observed that there are three sorts of it , to wit , a Simplicity in the words , such as that of Caesar ; a Simplicity in the Sentiments , such as that of Salust ; and a Simplicity in the Design , and in the Distribution of the Design , such as that of Thucydides , so much celebrated by Dionysius Halicarnassaeus . Those Authors of the Moderns , who have come nearest that Character , are amongst the French , Philip de Comines ; Guicciardine amongst the Italians , Buchanan amongst the Scots , and Mariana amongst the Spaniards : most of the others endeavour not to keep themselves up by the Purity , Politeness , and the other Ornaments of Discourse , but onely when their Abilities will not reach to the observance of that Simplicity ; and they paraphrase the truth , when they have not the strength to deliver it naked . Happy is that man who can arrive thereto when he is concerned to write ; ignorant persons may understand him , while the intelligent are charm'd with him . But there is not any thing of greater difficulty to attain , than that even and natural Air , which contributes so much to the Simplicity of Style . There is an extraordinary Genius requisite in him who would speak things simply , without falling into the mean and frigid Style . For when he studies Simplicity , there is not any thing he ought more to fear than Meanness of Expression . But wherein does this admirable Simplicity consist , which is the sovereign Perfection of a great Work , and what is meant by writing simply ? In this , that a man should make use of the most proper and most ordinary words , but yet such as are full of great sence , as that Prince does , on whom Homer bestows a concise , pleasant , and significant Eloquence , without any superfluity . It is for a man to think and speak pertinently what he has to think and say , without giving too great a Vivacity to his Expression , as Strada does ; and without giving too much Lustre to his Conceptions , as Grotius does . It consists in a mans having ordinary and natural Sentiments , without making so many Ratioecinations and Reflections , as Davila does , in his History of the Troubles of France , for when a man is so much taken up with Ratiocination , it is not Nature , but Art and Study that speak ; and those so much studied Discourses smell of the School and the Declamation . It consists in not intermixing more Ornament in the Discourse than the Modesty of Truth can well bear withal . It consists in expressing that natural and simple Air of Xenophon's , which all imaginable Affectation cannot come near . It consists , in fine , in being Master of that miraculous gift of Retrenching what is superfluous out of the Discourse ; which Phocion was so excellently possess'd withall , and of whom Demosthenes , as great a Student as he was of that Simplicity , was wont to say , when he saw him ascending the Theatre to refute him , See the Iron Instrument which is to cut off all the superfluity of my words . The better to establish this Character , which besides a great stock of Wisdom and sound Sence , require● great Exercise and much Meditation , a man ought to avoid being conversant with those Authors , whose Imaginations are over fertile , and so to shun that profusion of frivolous Conceptions and forc'd Expressions , and that Fustian way of writing into which men are apt to fall , when they are not exact Pursuers of sound Sence , and have not their Minds well poised . For Models in this way of writing a man is to propose to himself onely the Ancients , and amongst them he is to make choice onely of the most Eminent for the Simplicity of their Style . Hermogenes proposes Theocritus and Anacreon for great Models of that simplicity , of which their Writings are a sufficient Testimony . Herodotus seems to Longinus to be over-daring . Dionysius Halicarnassaeus charges Thucydides , as simply as he writes , with inserting too many matters of fact in some of his Narrations . Xenophon and Polybius are too full of Moralizations , and many times break off the Thread of the History by their Reflections . Diodorus Siculus intermixes too much Learning in his Discourse . Plutarch may pass for a great Original of that simplicity which we look after , for he has observ'd it in all he has written . Titus Livius does not appear to me more admirable upon the score of all his other great Qualities , than he does upon this . The current of his History is like the course of a great River , which glides away majestically ; whereas the History of Tacitus may be compared to a rich and plentiful River , but subject to Inundations : he is not sufficiently well poiz'd in what he thinks , and he is many times forc'd and harsh in what he says , merely because he is not simple . Mariana is one of the most accomplish'd amongst the modern Historians , because he is the most studious to express himself simply . For there is not any thing of this simplicity of Style to be found in great Subjects , but what is always attended with Grandeur and Excellency . Those are the Qualities from which proceeds that primitive Ground●work of Perfection which History requires , and which may be call'd ( as I may so say ) the first Elements of that Beauty which it ought to have , and which ought also to be more predominant in the Fancy , and in the whole Character of the Historian , than in his Style and Discourse . Take now the other Lines which are to be added thereto for the completing of it , and which I briefly hint at , observing no other order than that wherein they present themselves to my mind . I begin with the matter and form , that is to say , with what is most essential to History . VI. The Matter of History . THE Matter fit to exercise the Art of an Historian is of a vast extent , since it is to comprehend all the Actions of Men , relating to Peace , War , Counsels , Negotiations , Embassies , Intrigues , and all the different Adventures which are occurrent in Humane Life . Cicero requires two Qualities in the matter of History , that the things should be great , and that they should be worthy to be communicated to the publick . No man has better explicated the Choice which an Historian ought to make of his Subject than Dionysius Halicarnassaeus has done , in the Preface of his History , and in his Judgment upon Thucydides , where he prefers the Choice which Herodotus had made of his Subject before that of Thucydides , for the Reasons he alleges for it . But as it happens many times , that what is false has the Air of what is true , so there is a great perspicacity and discernment requisite to separate the true Motives of important Actions , from those which are onely colourable and pretentional , and prudently to make choice of the matter , which wholly derives its Beauty and Curiosity from the disciplination and distribution of the Circumstances , and from the Order whereto what is too indeterminate ought to be reduc'd , by restraining it within the natural extent of the Limits which it ought to have . When it shall have been so reduc'd , let the Historian become Master of it , by a profound Meditation of his Subject , whereof he ought to have a perfect information and knowledge : and withall let him be sufficiently exact and religious , never to abuse the Credulity of the publick , by entertaining it with his own Conjectures instead of Truths , or giving it certain things for doubtful ones . Let him read as much as possibly lies in him , to the Source of the Instructions which he has been supplied withall , in order to his making a just discernment thereof . Let him not advance any thing upon common Reports , whose Authors are always uncertain . Let him not affirm things but upon very sure Memorials , and very faithful Relations . Let him not be too slightly confident of the sincerity of those Historians who were his Predecessors , lest he be led out of the way by following ill Guides . Let him make a great distinction between Relations which are partial , or suspected of Prepossession , and those that are not such . Let him always stand upon his guard against the Partialities of those who furnish him with Memorials , in regard that Preoccupation never makes any but false Histories . Herodotus , whose History is so fabulous , according to the sentiment of Cicero , had onely wretched Memorials to work upon , as Josephus pretends . Thucydides , desirous to make his advantage of the others miscarriage , confin'd himself to the History of his own time , not trusting any other person , and writing onely what he had seen himself , or learned from creditable persons , and out of Memorials which he got together with great cost , not onely on the Athenians side , but also on that of the Lacedaemonians , that he might have the Informations of both Parties . Xenonophon , Polybius , and Procopius , took in a manner the same course . Dion Cassius acknowledges in his History , that he spent ten years in preparing the Materials of it . Petrarch affirms , that Salust went into Africa , to observe himself the Situation of the places , whereof he was to give an account in his History of the War of Jugurth , as being unwilling to trust any but his own Eyes . For the most important matter of all is , for a man to be assur'd of the ground-work on which he writes . Lucian makes him a frivolous Historian of his time , who writ the War of Armenia upon common reports , having not seen any person who had been in Syria , where the Battel was fought . And Vopiscus could not be induc'd to write the History of the Emperour Aurelianus , but upon the Assurance he received from Junius Tiberianus , Minister of State , that he should be furnished with good Memorials . Nor is it sufficient for a man to be himself concerned in Affairs , but he must also have a Character of Spirit fit to communicate them to others . Polybius affirms , that Calisthenes was a Witness of the Engagement between Alexander and Darius , in the narrow place of Cilicia ; yet he does commit very great Absurdities in the description of that important Battel , merely out of his ignorance of Military Affairs , and the order which was observ'd in the Engagements of that time . A man ought therefore above all things to be very well assur'd of his matter , which he never fails of if he have a good Apprehension ; but he may be defective in point of Assurance , if he have not the discernment requisite as to the matters of fact , which are advanc'd . How many false Memorials are there produc'd , because the Sources thereof are spoil'd by interessed persons ? And if there be not any thing more common than the Materials design'd for History , for all may be good in order thereto : it may also be said , that there is not any thing more rare than that Certainty or Assurance whereby they ought to be attended , in order to their being proper for it , and which is hardly found , because there is a Preoccupation of all sides . Upon which account we ought to esteem that sentiment of Boccalini , as to this point , when he advises a man not to write any more than what he has seen , and not to suffer any thing to be publish'd till after his death : by which means he is assur'd of what he says , and Prepossession has no part therein . But let a man be careful above all things to pitch upon great Subjects , such are as capable of keeping themselves up by their own stock and strength ; a lofty matter gives lustre and weight to the words ; and in low Subjects Art must play its part , and supply their weakness . VII . The Form of History . THe Form which ought to be given to History is that which is most essential thereto : 't is this onely makes it great or little , and it is by this we discover the measure and extent of his genius who is the Author of it . The person therefore who would write well must have a mind susceptible of great Idea's , and capable of Elevation ; to the end that making himself Master of his Subject , he may invest his matter into what Form he pleases . 'T is by this draught that Livy gives his History a Character of Grandeur , which has not any thing like it in all the other Historians , by imprinting upon all the Subjects whereof he treats , the Colours whereof they are capable , according to their own worth . 'T is thus that he gives the last Kings of Rome all the Arrogance which their absolute Independence inspir'd them withall ; that he diversifies the Spirit of the Republick by the uncivilliz'd Vertue of the first Consuls , by the popular Insurrections of the Tribunes , by the Austerity of the Government of the Decemvirs , by the Luxury and Deliciousness of the last Consuls ; that he distinguishes every Age and Period of Time , by the genius which had been most predominant therein , without confounding the different motions of that genius in the different Circumstances of Times , which have not any thing of resemblance ; and that he always keeps himself up at the same height , by the great representations he makes of the things whereof he treats . On the contrary , Tacitus gives all his matters in a manner the same Form ; all is done in him by Political Considerations ; the persons he speaks of have always their Apprehensions disconsonant to those of other people . It is not their own Character that makes them act , but that of the Historian , who by the limits of a Mind too much restrain'd within it self gives always one and the same Figure to his Expressions , and the same Circumference to his Conceptions ; there is a general resemblance and conformity in all . The Political Reflection is the motive and general decypherer and disentangler of all things . If Augustus makes choice of a Successor at his death , 't is onely that he might be the more regretted that he gives them a Governour of the State more wicked than himself . If Tiberius makes Piso Governour of Syria , 't is done onely to set a Spy over Germanicus , who governed Egypt , whose glory gave him some umbrage . If the flatteries of Dolabella displease him , the reason is , because they are not smart and ingenious enough . Of his sending Sylla into Exile the reason is , that he look'd upon his Taciturnity as proceeding from Dissimulation and Reservedness . The Modesty of that Emperour is onely a smother'd Ambition , his Favours are onely so many Snares , his Moderation is onely a scornful Fierceness , and his Religion is onely a supercilious Personation of it . 'T is an argument of the Indignation of the Gods , that Sejanus becomes the Emperour's Favourite , and is advanc'd to the Ministry of State. Arruntius poisons himself upon a political account , to avoid falling into the hands of a Master more brutish than Tiberius . He finds Wit even in the Stupidity of the Emperour Claudius , and Delicacy even in the Debauches and Brutalities of Nero ; and he represents as a refin'd piece of Prudence , the bestial humour which was observ'd in some people under the Reign of that Emperour . In fine , all the Characters resemble one the other , Nature has no part in any thing ; her Sentiments are always forc'd therein , and the same genius reigns all over , by the impression of the genius of the Historian , who is in a manner always the same person . Mariana takes a larger Career ; the Romans , the Carthaginians , the Christians , the Arabians , the Moors , the Mahumetans , make all different Figures in his work . The Spirit of the Author is not diffus'd into the other Spirits , otherwise than to distinguish them according to their Character , making his way always by paths , as different as the different Subjects whereof he treats , do require it . It may be also said , That amongst the Moderns there is not any History greater upon the score of its Form , than that of Mariana . VIII . The Design and End of History . THe main Design of Romance is onely to divert , and that of History to instruct . And this is properly their essential difference , the later having not any thing which it proposes to it self , but the Instruction of the Publick . For as it does not labour onely for the present , so its prospect ought not to be confin'd to the present time , which is transient , but to be directed to Posterity , which continues always . What Extravagance were it then , for a man to think of diverting onely the Age he lives in , when he may benefit all Ages ? These are the Reasons which Lucian uses , to oblige the Historian , to mind onely what is beneficial , and to regulate the Hearts and Dispositions of men , by the Instructions he gives them . It is a great mistake ( says he ) to pretend that History may be divided into two parts , the Beneficial and the Divertive ; for the Historian ought to mind onely the Benefit which may be gain'd from a sincere and true Account of Affairs ; and if he inserts any thing that is Divertive , it must not be out of any design to corrupt the Truth , but to embellish it , and to render it the more acceptable . And to justifie his sentiment , he alleges the Extravagancies of the Historians of his time , who made themselves ridiculous by following other Principles . Herodotus made it his business to please the Age wherein he writ ; but his Sincerity was so cried down in subsequent times , that he occasioned the Fidelity of the Greeks to be suspected in point of History , in the time of Quintilian . Photius mentions an Historian named Damascius , who could think of no other way to please , than by relating things incredible . And Seneca complains , that in his time there were some Historians , who had no other Expedient to signalize themselves than by fabulous Narrations : that was always the gust and humour of the meaner sort of people , who are pleas'd with Fictions ; not that of Persons of worth and abilities , who love onely the Truth . In the subsequent Ages the Arabians intermix'd so many Fables into their Writings , that they spoil'd most of the Historians of their times , by the humour then predominant , of intermixing surprizing Adventures in all their fabulous Productions . It was their Perswasion , that in order to Divertisement there was a necessity of telling incredible things . That Fancy infected some of the modern Greeks ; whence it comes , that the knowledge we have of those Ages by the Byzantine History , is not of the surest , because the Authors thereof seem to be of a Character not very exact . And when a man writes according to their Memorials , he ought to be very well precaution'd against so false an Idea , to merit belief ; inasmuch as the falshood spoils all , and makes onely a Fable of the Truth . Nay the truest things ought not to be related , when they once appear incredible or extraordinary , if a man gives them not an Air of truth , or at least a Colour of probability . This is done by Thucydides ; and though he found Herodotus in so great esteem , as that some gave his Books the names of the Muses , he made it his business to speak onely the truth , without minding how he pleas'd . I had rather ( says he ) displease by speaking the truth , than divert by relating fables ; in regard that by displeasing I may possibly benefit , and I may haply prejudice by endeavouring to divert . Let therefore this be granted , that there is not any thing so excellent in History , as what is real ; and that Truth being the greatest divertisement of it , that very Historian who would endeavour to divert , ought to advance onely what is true . IX . That Truth is the onely means , whereby History advances towards its end ; and how it is found . TRuth being the onely means , whereby History may securely instruct , ought also to be the principal rule of it , that it may be the ground-work of the publick belief , as it ought to be . But where is it to be found ? Is there any thing in the world that lies more conceal'd than Truth ? For besides the Clouds and Mists whereby it is naturally surrounded , and sometimes rendred inaccessible , it is also begirt with all the Disguizes , which mans Heart is capable of . And if the ordinary Ignorance of those who write , and are so short sighted as to the prospect they should have before them , be an obstacle to the knowledge of Truth , their want of Sincerity , or voluntary Insincerity , is a much greater . For how many false Judgments do men make by the false prospects which Passion or Interest gives them , and by the preoccupations which Error or Opinion are wont to inspire prepossessed Minds withall ? In fine , Truth being of a nature so unknown to men , either by reason of its own obscurity , or by the weakness of their abilities , or want of attention , there is not any thing more difficult , than to communicate it to the publick in its purity , and without any adulteration . And as it is continually corrupted and profan'd by the baseness of Flatterers , most Historians being ordinarily Court-Pensioners ; so a man ought to bid defiance to hope or fear , as soon as he has once concern'd himself in writing , that he may have the courage to be a constant deliverer of the truth . But if it suffices not that a man be willing to speak it , he must also be able to do it , by searching after it in the purity of its source , by seeking it in the most curious Closets , and by consulting the Instructions of those who have been concern'd in the Affairs , so to unravel what is most mysterious in the most secret Intrigues . The Historian above all things must well study Man in general , make a discovery of his disposition by the most fantastick and most unexpected passages , find out the greatest weaknesses of his heart , dive into his true Sentiments , that he may not impose false ones upon him ; and judge of him by those natural and unforeseen motions which he is guilty of , when he least thinks of them . 'T is by this means that he descries the real Sentiments of the Soul , the Heart having not the time to recollect in order to its disguizing of it self : for it forces it self as soon as it comes to reflect , as Tacitus offers it to our observation in Agrippina , and Octavia the Sister of Britannicus . For as soon as he was smitten with the Poison which Nero had ordered to be given him at the Banquet , wherein he procured his death , Octavia was troubled as well as Agrippina ; there was a visible Consternation in their Countenances ; but whereas Octavia was in hopes of being married to Nero , and that Agrippina his Mother , a Woman naturally ambitious , was desirous to reign , their political Reflection reassur'd them ; and not to give any disgust to the Emperour , who rid out of the way his Rival to the Empire , they smother their Sentiments , silence their grief , and continue the Repast with the same Gayety of Humour , as if nothing had happen'd , while the Prince gave up his last gasp in the Antichamber . Now this must be look'd on as a great piece of Contrivance in an Author , who would give us an exact account of those whose History he relates . But this is a Consideration not much heeded , and is the reason that we have so few Histories . There is a Character of Spirit proper for the delivering of things as they are , which is not common ; it is one of the Talents of Thucydides , the most faithful and most sincere of all the Historians : he has a gusto and liking for the Truth , and a discernment to distinguish between that which is true and false , together with an Accuracy of Spirit , which has gain'd him the approbation and esteem of all Nations . Dionysius Halicarnassaeus commends him above all things for his keeping close to the Truth , alledging that he never spoke any thing against his Conscience : wherein he has surpass'd Herodotus , whose design it was onely to please . For Strabo affirms , that he intermix'd Fables into his History , out of a pure frolick to render it divertive . The Historians of the lower Class became so great Flatterers , that their defect in point of Fidelity diverted Vopiscus from writing the History of his own time ; but the Governour of the City , a Favourite of the Emperour 's , in a Discourse he had with him as they walk'd abroad , took off that scruple by representing to him , that the most considerable Historians had been deceiv'd in many things . * P●llio affirms , that the same thing has happen'd to Caesar in his Commentaries , because he took not the leisure to examine what he said . Now if the greatest men are subject to these miscarriages , what will be the case of the ordinary sort of Writers ? And if Truth does not always make a discovery of it self in its purity to extraordinary Genius's , how shall it expose it self to me●ner persons , who upon the very score of their Quality cannot deliver any thing without changing the Circumstances thereof , either by diminishing or augmenting the Objects ? For there is not any thing of greater rarity than an exact Character , and such as is fit to communicate things as they are : they are not said otherwise than as they are conceiv'd ; they are not conceiv'd , but answerably to the frame of the Imagination : and of several persons who may have seen the same thing , there are not many times two that deliver it after the same manner , every one relating what he had seen according to the Idea he has taken thereof , and suitably to the frame of his own Apprehension . The Talent therefore most requisite in an Historian , is that exact and faithful Inclination of declaring the truth , in all Circumstances conducive to its making an Impression in , and meriting the belief of the publick . But it is not yet sufficient to History , that it communicate what is true ; there is further requisite a certain manner of Expression to speak it well , and that is called the Style . Let us now see which is the most convenient to History . X. The Style proper to History . THe Style is the Form of the Discourse , and the Manner after which a man writes : the most proper to every one is that which is most conformable to his Genius , and he ought to follow it without any violence . So that a Style having an intermixture of several Styles is always vicious . This is a defect of Strada in his History of Flanders , who by the excellency of his Imagination , and by his great Reading , had fraught his mind with different Characters . And that intermixture which is observable in his manner of writing , how pleasant soever it may be , abates somewhat of its perfection . Mariana , a person of the same Society , has more substance , and is more even in his Style . But the most proper Style for an Historian is that which hath most the Character of Truth , and wherein that natural Lustre of Sincerity , which ordinarily attends Truth , is more conspicuous : for what has that Air is easily credited . The Style of History ( says Lucian ) ought to be clear and natural ; in as much as clearness is the rule of what it ought to speak , as truth is the rule of what it ought to think . The Discourse of it ought to be free , though it seem to be restrain'd ; and it does not so much require Numerousness , as a rotundity of Style , that it may have that unconcernment which renders it natural . But in regard the Historian ought to read the ancient Authors , in order to the framing of a Style according to his Genius , we shall give him here what he shall find observable in that Study , for his framing to himself a Method proper to his Design . The Style of Herodotus is gentle , evenly flowing and pleasant . That of Thucydides is more noble , and implies more Grandeur , but it is not so natural : nay , he has some harshnesses which render him obscure ; and he is less remarkable for Numerousness and Rotundity than Herodotus . Xenophon writes with an insinuating and milde Air ; his Discourse , which may be likened to a pure and clear Water , has nothing comparable to it in Antiquity , unless it be the Style of Caesar ; for there has not been any thing writ in the Latine Tongue of greater purity . The Observation of a modern Critick , who takes notice of a difference of Style in the Books of the Civil Wars , which he pretends are not written so purely as the War of the Gauls , is a delicacy beyond my apprehension : I am not so subtilly observant as to find it so ; and I appeal to the Sentiment of Suetonius , who makes no distinction between them . I must acknowledge , that I am extremely taken with the Elegance and Simplicity of that Author ; no person ever had the Talent of writing more clearly . But the Transcendency of Livy's Discourse puts me into an Ecstacy ; it is near two thousand years that that Historian has been heard with respect by all people , upon the score of that Majestical Tone wherewith he speaks , which has been the admiration of all Ages . Nor is my mind taken up with any thing so much as that admirable choice of words , always proportionate to his Sentiments , and that Expression of Sentiment always conformable to the things whereof he speaks . In fine , he of all the Authors has best pitch'd upon the Style which Cicero advises of History ; and he is that great Model which Buchanan , Mariana , Paulus Aemilius , Paulus Jovius , and all those who have out-lasted their own Ages , have propos'd to themselves , as to the manner wherein History ought to be written . Tacitus is not so proper for that purpose ; for he , by reason of his startling and surprising Sallies , may be compar'd to Lightning , which does not so much lighten as dazle . Paterculus and Florus have made a kind of intermixture of the florid , delicate , and divertive Air , with the meaner sort of writing . The Authors of the History of Augustus , as Ammianus Marcellinus , Lampridius , Spartianus , Julius Capitolinus , Vopiscus , and the rest , have degenerated into the frigid and impure Style , which has not any thing of that noble Simplicity of the precedent Ages . Salust has somewhat of Grandeur and Sublimity in his way of writing ; in which respect Quintilian compares him to Thucydides . Quintus Curtius is conspicuous and florid . And upon these two ways , which are in a manner the two onely rational ones , that a man can make use of , he may examine which of the two is the most proper for History : and that question is the most important of any that can be made upon this subject . XI . Whether the Noble Style , or the Florid , be more proper for History . IN a question of such consequence as this , which is not yet well decided , it will be sufficient to allege the Reasons which may serve for the decision of it , when a man has not the Authority to decide it himself . Salust has a certain Grandeur in his Style ; but he has some harsh Expressions , which render him dry in some places , because he had derived that unpolishedness from the original Expressions of Cato ; which gives a Seriousness to his Discourse , and that has the Air of Severity . On the contrary , there is not any thing more polite than Quintus Curtius ; it is a flower of admirable Expression , which extremely pleases the Virtuosi . But the business now in hand is to examine , whether the harsh Style of Salust , how harsh soe're it may be , is not more sound and more proper for History , it giving ( as indeed it does ) Weight , Vigour , and Grandeur to the Discourse . Has it not even its Beauties and Excellencies ? Is it not in that harshness of Style , that we sometimes find those fierce and daring Graces , which Demetrius Phalereus says that Homer has so well express'd , in the Adventure of Polyphemus in the Odissey , whereof he is the first Author , as Demetrius pretends in his Treatise of Elocution : that is to say , those Graces which have nothing of softness or effeminacy , and which please without any affected and superfluous dress . The same Author cites several Examples of them taken out of Xenophon , who has the art of making those things pleasant , which have not ought intrinsecally ●o recommend them . In this does properly consist that austere Style , which Hermogenes prefers before the soft Style , when he says , that an absolutely simple Narration has many times more force and vigour , than that which is adorn'd and florid ; inasmuch as the severe Style may have Grandeur , and the milde Style cannot ascend above Mediocrity : and for this reason does he place sound Sence , how much soever it may admit of negligence , amongst the qualities of the noble and elevated Style . This ( says he ) was the Character of Pericles , whom Demosthenes propos'd to himself , in the Acquest of that vigorous and vehement Eloquence , wherein he has excell'd . Hyperides ( says he elsewhere ) is chargeable with Negligence , but yet he has Grandeur : his Style is rough , dry , and Sceleton-like ; but it is noble and sublime . For that Austerity of Style , which was the true Character of the Greeks , is onely an exactness of sound Sence , and an adjusted and correct Reason , which ( without minding what glitters ) aims onely at what is solid ; it has nothing that 's counterfeit in its Sentiments ; all its Attention is wholly bent upon a Sobriety of Discourse , which has not any thing but what is senceful and simple . And this is also the Style which Plutarch attributes to Demosthenes , and which Dionysius Halicarn●ssaeus does not distinguish from the grand and sublime . 'T is in fine that Vigour of Expression , which gives the Discourse an Air of Excellency and Majesty , whereby it becomes great and solid . 'T is thus that Caesar has somewhat that's more noble in the simplicity of his Discourse , than Tacitus has in all the pomp of his words ; and there are some Negligences in the ancient Authors , which are equivalent to all the exactness and regularity of the Moderns . Not but that the florid Style may be of use in those small Histories , which cannot keep themselves up by their own intrinsecal worth . The Princess of Montpensier ought to be writ with all the Elegance that Art is capable of ; but the History of the War of Paris and of our last Troubles in France , ought to have a greater Air of writing . In small Subjects there is a Delicacy requisite ; in great ones , Vigour and Dignity are required . Let Paterculus be polite and ornamental in the Character he has taken ; but let Livy be transcendent and serious ; in as much as ordinary Beauties stand in need of Ornament e're they can shew themselves , and the great ones , who have their Attractions within themselves , need it not . Not to urge that Truth , which is the Soul of History , is apt to fall under suspicion , when she is once too sumptuously adorn'd ; nor that Negligence has more of the Air of Sincerity . And this is what 's particularly to be observ'd upon the account of Style , after the general Notions I have given thereof : but whereas it cannot be put in use otherwise than by Narration , let us examine how that ought to be . XII . Narration . HIstory ( properly speaking ) being onely a recital of things past , and in the order they came to pass , ought to be a continued Narration . So that there is not any thing more essential to it , than that a man know well how to relate ; but there is not also any thing more difficult . For what Art is there not requisite to prevent the distraction of the Reader , and to keep him in a continual posture of Attention ? What Prudence is there not requisite to mingle and scatter up and down those Colours , which are fit to put things into a state of Verisimilitude , and to intermix ever and anon those Insinuations , those Explications , those Graces , that Fire , that Vivacity , which keep the Narration from languishing ? What Dexterity is there not requisit●●or a man to display his Art and Wit in what he says , and ye still to conceal it ; and by a great variety of Expressions , Figures , Conceptions , to scatter Ornaments up and down upon the Passages that are capable thereof , yet without ever discovering them ? What Discernment and Recollection is there not requisite to know what ought to be said and what ought not to be said ; to speak , and to be silent ; not to stick any longer than is fit upon the places he is to pass through ; to expose things at large or minutely , according as necessity or decorum require ; to dilate , and abbreviate them ; to heighten by a happy Expression the Passages which are not happy of themselves ; and never to tire out the Reader by an excessive Uniformity ? In fine , what Judgment is there not requisite accurately to distinguish between what suits well , and what does not ? For 't is upon this that the whole Beauty of Narration , and all the Grace of History depends . But Narration is complete , when it has not any thing that 's superfluous . Thus you have in a word that whereto the Perfection , which it is capable of , may be reduc'd . The Precepts of Cicero and Quintilian say no more ; after whom I have not any thing to say . For when the Superfluities are once retrenched , when those needless Circumlocutions and those Epithets , which are introduc'd merely for ostentation , and all those frivolous Ornaments of Discourse are suppress'd , every thing hastens to its period . Vigour , Smartness , Dignity , all is kept up in it , and nothing languishes . As to this point Thucydides surpasses Herodotus , who is too diffusive in certain Passages , wherein he gives too much scope to the Excellency of his Imagination . Salust is an Author of an exact and concise Character ; he is principally recommendable upon the score of the swiftness and rapidity of his Discourse ; 't is that which animate● it , and makes it so lively . The Narration of Caesar is admirable for its Purity and Eloquence , but it is not lively enough ; and it is defective as to that force and vigour which he quarrell'd at in Terence . As for Titus Livius , he has an Air of relating things which is very insinuating , by reason of the intermixture he makes of small things with great ones in his Narration : in as much as an over-long Continuation of great things spends the Spirits , by reason of the Attention they require , and small things give them some relaxation . 'T is according to the same Method that he diversifies his Adventures , that he makes a vicissitude of mournful and pleasant things , that he disposes what is splendid and what is heavy , according to a wise and judicious Temperament , to keep the Reader in breath by that variety . For a Narration grows flat , when it has not a diversity of Accidents , Adventures , Figures , and Expressions . Nay , a man must give certain Intervals to things , that so the Reader may have time to breath , and not smother his matter , by an over-intermixture of Occurrences one with another . This is a defect which Dionysius Halicarnassaeus reproaches Thucydides withall , in a Narration of the third Book of his History , wherein he so intermingles the different Interests of the Athenians , Lacedemonians , and the other Nations of Greece , that he somewhat confounds the several species , by a Narration overcharg'd with matter . And this is a defect ordinary enough in fertile Wits . Though the order of the times be the most natural to Narration , in regard it discloses things in the series wherein they happen ; yet is there however an order of reason in the distribution of Occurrences , which ought to be the particular Study of the Historian . It is onely by this concealed Order that he ingratiates himself with the Reader , makes him take the same prospect of things as he had done himself ; that he instils into him his own Sentiments , when he makes him see men acting naturally as they ought to act , and that he shews him their Manners , their Conceptions , their Designs , their Motives , their Actions as they are in a kind of dependence one upon another , and in that natural Order , wherein there is an exact Correspondence . The Historian , who knows how to manage this without confusion , is a great man. This is the way that is pleasing , and not those extraordinary Emergencies , after which a man runs when he has no Judgment . For there is not any thing more taking , than to see men act in that order : that alone well deliver'd keeps the Mind attentive . As to which particular Livy has been the most succesful , because he has best followed that Order , by pursuing the course of his History with an intertexture of Discourse , and an always equal and even Concatenation of Actions . Longinus has not forborn to observe , that Thucydides does sometimes discompose things that were well concerted , merely that he might surprize by his disorder , and so diversifie his Narration : nay , he often relates things past in the present time , in shewing them as if they then actually passed ; which raises a greater Expectancy and Attention in the Reader . Tacitus has his frequent Sallies , and does not make a consequential delivery of things . That great Sence pent up in few words has not the extent it should have , to be proportionate to the Apprehension of his Readers , which is many times o'repressed therewith : and as he is not natural in what he relates , nor ever hardly humanizes himself , so he does not instruct as he ought to do . For instance ; when upon occasion of the Papian Law he explicates the Origine of Laws ; or when he elsewhere describes the Privilege of Places of Refuge , he does not go to the Source of the things ; he does not clear up any thing to the bottom , or he does it amiss ; as when he would explicate the Religion of the Jews , in the fifth Book of his History . Nay , his very Style is no way fit for it , which is a great defect in an Historian , whose principal Function is to instru●● . But after all a Narration is good , howe're it be made , when it pleases . XIII . Transitions . THe great Art of Narration , and one of its principal Beauties , consists in Transitions . And indeed those delicate and natural Windings , those happy Devolutions from one subject to another , which make the Prosecution of the Discourse engaging ; those insinuating Attractions , which conduct the Reader 's Mind from object to object , and give him a spacious , yet divertive , Prospect : in fine , all that admirable oeconomy of Transition , is that which is most delicate and most sprightly in Narration , which looks always as it were forc'd , never easie and natural , without that Art. It is not enough for a man to understand speaking well , in order to the attaining of this ; but he must be eloquent , absolute Master of his Subject , and perfectly know the Connexions and Dependencies of it ; for the most proper Transitions ought to be rather in the things themselves , than in the words . So that those Excursions out of Kingdoms into Kingdoms , out of Nations into Nations , out of Ages into Ages , without any method or management , are great Deviations and Sallies , in a History any thing well regulated , wherein every thing ought to be disposed and adjusted , as we find in the Structure of a great Palace , the Proportion and Correspondency of whose parts make one of its greatest Beauties . For History is as 't were a Body , consisting of its several Members by a natural Connexion . As to which particular the History of the Schism of England , by Sand●r●s , is very defective amongst the Moderns , as that of Florus and Paterculus amongst the Ancients . There is not any thing more connected , or more gently flowing , than the the Discourse of Xenoph●n . Livy has those qualifications in a greater measure ; his Narration is an admirable Concatenation , in regard his Transitions are not so much in the words as the things . Salust is not of so even a thread . Tacitus is less even ; if he has any Connexions , they are forc'd , and the thread of his Discourse is much interrupted ; which startles the Reader , who cannot follow that Author but with loss of breath . The most difficult Transitions are those which are in the most common things ; for a man must keep up himself with an Expression that has not any thing mean in it , notwithstanding the meanness of the Matter ; nay find out an Expedient to connect things that have not any mutual dependence . 'T is also in those places that a man ought to use his greatest art and wit. The Reader 's Mind is so delicate , that it is not always turn'd as an Author pleases . And therefore those Windings , which it is to be conducted from Adventures to Adventures , ought to be prepar'd by secret Co●catenations . For in short , it is many times subject to a ridiculous Coyness , and is in so fantastick an humour as renders it intractable . But what artifice is there not requisite to diversifie those Transitions , between which there should never be any resemblance , that so he may always supply the Reader with new Idea's , by not placing the same objects before his eyes ? Herein ought the industry of the Historian to be much exercised ; for in this consists that Gracefulness of Narration , which alone can make it pleasant and attractive . XIV . The Circumstances of Narration . IF a Narration becomes pleasant upon the score of its Transitions , it becomes probable upon that of its Circumstances . For nothing renders a man more concern'd than a matter of Fact well circumstanced , which being over-clouded and obscure , as it is in it self , is cleared up by particulars , and by that means becomes sensible , palpable , evident ; and there 's no way to make one apprehend the progress of great Enterprizes and important Affairs , but that of unveiling them by the different degrees of their Circumstances . So that the art of exposing the Truth in all its dependences , by decyphering what is particular therein , making one of the greatest Beauties of History , the Historian ought to study it with all the care imaginable . Take then what there may be to be observed therein . The grand Secret is , to know how to make a prudent and judicious choice of the Circumstances , fit to give a greater Idea of the thing , to imprint in them that colour which engages Credulity , and by that minute dissection to render them capable of fastening on the Mind . A Collection of great and small Circumstances methodically intermix'd one with another , is of that nature when they are well chosen . For the great Circumstances raise admiration , and the small ones create diversion , provided they be well chosen , without being aggravated . But , though a Matter of Fact , which is not exactly particularized , does not make any impression ; yet is it requisite , that a man should avoid all those mean , frivolous , and minute Particularities , which debase a Subject ; for he becomes childish , and indeed ridiculous , who insists too much on small things . Such was that impertinent Historian mentioned by Lucian , who makes a very particular description of the Parthian King's Vest , and of the Roman Emperour's Buckler , whilest he is describing the Engagement . Others ( says he ) not minding essential things , spend their thoughts on what makes nothing to their purpose ; as he , who having said a word or two of the Battel , which he was to give an account of , falls into a description of the most extravagant Adventures of a Moorish Knight , that could be imagined . Thus does Procopius in his Secret History , forget to circumstance what is important , and is very careful in circumstancing what is not so . A man ought therefore , in the relation of a Matter of Fact of consequence , to know how to set off to the best advantage the Circumstances which are most proper to clear it up , and to heighten it , by distinguishing that which is essential from that which is not . The most complete Model we have in History of a great Action related in all the Circumstances capable of giving it weight and grandeur , is Hannibal's March into Italy , described in the 21. Book of Livy's Annals . It is in my Judgment the most accomplish'd passage of his History ; and there are few things of that force in Antiquity . Never did greater Design enter into a Soul more extraordinary , and never was any thing executed with more confidence or more resolution . His business was to come out of Africa , to pass through all Spain , to climb over the Pyrenaean Mountains , to cross the River Rhone , which is so large and so rapid near its falling into the Sea , and whereof the Shores on each side were planted with so many Enemies ; to open a way through the Alps , where none had ever passed before ; to march all along upon Precipices , to dispute every foot of Ground he was to go , with People posted every where in continual Ambuscado's , amidst Snow , Ice , Rain , Torrents ; to defie Tempests and Thunder , to engage against the Heavens , the Earth , and all the Elements ; to have at his heels an Army of an hundred thousand men of different Nations , but all dissatisfied with a Captain , whose Courage they could not imitate . There is a Consternation in the hearts of the Souldiery ; Hannibal is the onely person undisturb'd ; the danger which surrounds him on all sides , raises a trouble in the hearts of the whole Army , but he is not mov'd thereat . All is set down in a minute Particularization of dreadful Circumstances ; the image of the danger is expressed in every word of the Historian ; and never was there any Representation more complete in History , nor any touch'd with stronger colours , or more lively . Nor is there any thing better circumstanc'd in Tacitus , than the Entertainment which the Empress Messalina made for Silius , her Gallant and Favourite . 'T was a kind of Vintage in all the Ceremonies , the season of Autumn being favourable thereto ; Joy , Pleasure , Effeminacy , Lasciviousness , Impudence , Debauchery , all is describ'd with an exquisite delicacy and elegance , and all is particulariz'd succinctly , sencefully , and related in a smart and lively manner : and there is not any thing more judiciously plac'd , to render by so frolicksom a Pourtraiture the Death of Messalina , which follows soon after , more tragical and more full of horrour . In fine , there are some happy Circumstances which give a Grace to whatever they are applied to ; they must be known ere they can be imploy'd . Sometimes things become greater by their Circumstances than they are in themselves . Let us seek out those Circumstances which are joyntly capable of pleasing and instructing , and so prevent the Reader 's being wearied out . Let us imitate D'avila , who so excites Attention by the art he has of Circumstancing what he says . And yet excessive Particularizations tire the Mind : let us therefore make a distinction between important and necessary Circumstances , and those that are not such . Let us consult Lucian , and his Discourse upon History ; he is a great Master in it . But to make a Narration complete , we are to joyn to the Circumstances of the things which it says , the Motives of the Actions which it relates ; for the Motives well couch'd down render a Narration as curious , as the Circumstances render it probable . XV. Motives . TO relate the Actions of Men without speaking of their Motives , is not to be accounted writing of History . Who does so , demeans himself as a Gazetteer , who thinks it enough to deliver the Events of things , without advancing to their Source . As Caesar , who simply gives an account of his Marches and his Encampings , without acquainting us with the Motives thereof : all in his Narration is too simple and too superficial ; and true it is , that he writes onely Memoirs . It is therefore by this Particularization of the Motives which put men upon Action , that History becomes it self curious , and that it keeps it self up , especially in important Affairs . He therefore minds onely the Superficiality of things , who relates how they pass'd without going to their principle . Reason requires ( says Cicero ) that as in great affairs the designs should precede the execution , so the Historian should give an account not onely of the events , but also of the motives ; and that reporting what has been done , he should explicate how and by what means it was done . Tacitus says somewhat much to the same purpose ; that the Historian is concern'd not onely to relate the Events of things , but also to discover the Ground-work and Principles thereof , and to give some account of the Motives . 'T is by this that an Historian distinguishes himself , and becomes considerable ; and nothing is more divertive in a Narration , than the decyphering of what is secret and of importance , in the designs and intentions of those whose Actions it divulges : and as History has not any thing curious comparably to that , so are there not any Historians of any fame , who have not endeavoured to signalize themselves upon that score . For nothing does more excite the Curiosity of men , than when they have discover'd to them what is most conceal'd in the Heart of man , that is to say , the secret Springs and Resorts , which make him act in the Enterprizes , which are ordinary to him . It is therefore by this Re-ascension to the Cause that we discover the genius of those persons who are spoken of , that we find out the predominant humour which puts them into action , what things they are capable of , and that we light on the truth by diving into their intentions . But with how many Falshoods are Histories fraught upon this plausible pretence ? And into how many errors have fallen , and do daily fall , unjust , unfaithful , and interessed Historians , who carried on with the Career of their own Conjectures , communicate their own Visions to the publick , in explicating the Designs of those whom they discourse of . As for example , that Pericles occasioned the Peloponnesian War , upon the score of his Amours to the Curtezan Aspasia . That Xerxes carried into Greece that dreadful Army , of which Historians give us an account , onely out of a design to eat Figs there . That Anthony lost the Empire , onely to avoid losing Cleopatra . That Francis the First of France had no motive to bring an Army into Italy , but the fair Eyes of a Milanese Lady named Claricia . There is not any thing more dangerous than this sort of people , who make it their business to search into mens hearts , to guess at their thoughts ; who say all they know , and all that comes into their Minds , out of a fear of being defective in telling the truth . This is one of the great Miscarriages of D'avila , whose Reasonings are pertinent enough , but whose Conjectures in the Motives of the matters of fact which he alleges , have but little truth in them , if we refer our selves to the Sentiments of ancient Courtiers , who had a true account of things from their Fathers . 'T is therefore when all 's done , onely an Action well disclos'd as to the Motives , and a Secret well div'd into , that gives a great Idea of the Ability of the Historian ; that creates a Judgment that he speaks as a person well inform'd , and is a great beauty in a History . But let an Author , who is subject to guess at things , be always on his guard against his own Prepossession ; let him not hearken to his Affection , nor to his Aversion , that so he may avoid Artifice , and those Colours which he is apt to give things , to turn them to that side for which he is prepossess'd ; let him not introduce supposititious Falsities , to justifie his Conjectures , and to bring things to the posture he would have them in ; let him not alleviate or aggravate any thing , as Tacitus does , who spits his venom every where ; or as Paterculus , who scatters Flowers on all sides ; let him not make men have worse intentions than they have , as Herodotus does , when he says that the Persians were called into Greece by the Spartans , because they could not any longer resist the Lacedemonians ▪ nor yet endure them , as Plutarch reproaches him with it ; nor let him excuse unjust actions by good intentions , as that Callias of Syracuse did , who justifies all the Actions of Agathocles , because he was kind to him , as Diodorus observes ; nor as Paulus J●vius has done in respect of Cosmo de Medicis in these last Ages . There are in all Historians some Miscarriages of this kind , because there are few among them who have their heads steddy enough to oppose their Prepossession . But though the Motives in great persons ought regularly to be more excellent , and indeed greater than the Actions ; for the Motives depend on them , whereas the Events do not ; yet is there no great mistake ( the Condition of Grandees considered ) in putting into the Scales of their Counsels and Deliberations , some Grains of the Vanity and Weakness whereof they are capable . For it happens many times , that most men determine what they intend to do upon impertinent and ridiculous Motives . There are infinite Examples of it which I omit , to avoid being my self infinite upon this Subject . It is principally requisite , that there be a discovery of the Vanity , the Malice , the Ignorance , the Extravagance of Man's Spirit , which are as it were the Principles thereof , in order to a full discovery of his intentions , and e're we can ●ive into the weakness of them , which is the grand principle of his Malice ; and a man must not be ignorant above all things , that the Slothfulness of most Grandees , in examining what is of greatest concern in Affairs , and the impatience they are in to see the issue of them , is the Wheel upon which is carried about what is most essential in their conduct . These are they who ought principally to be known , in regard that being ( as they are ) the grand Actors upon the Theatre of the World , all things are regulated according to the fantastick humour they are in ; but it is not to be affirmed , that a man's Reason always hits upon the right , when haply he may have done it once by pure chance . There are some Historians in this Age who have lost their Repute by the excessive itch they had to intermingle their own Conjectures in all occurrences , and to communicate themselves to the publick , together with their Histories . As Herrera does , who says that the Duke of Parma did not what he could against the Dutch , that he might according to policy keep them the longer upon the stage . There is not any thing more opposite to the Spirit of the Historian , who ought to be faithful and sincere , than those Conjectures which are made at random without any ground ; and all those Deductions grounded upon simple Conjectures are either uncertain or frivolous . And this I conceiv'd observable upon the points of Transitions , Circumstances , and Motives , wherein the principal artifice of Narration consists . Take now what is to be thought of its parts , which are the Figures , the Passions , the Descriptions , the Orations , the Reflexions or Sentences , the Characters of persons , the Digressions , and whatever may enter into the oeconomy of the Discourse , whereof History ought to be compos'd . XVI . Figures . HIstory does not make use of Figures , but onely to animate and enliven it self . The Orator who designs to impose , does speak for the most part figuratively , the better to set the Ressorts of his Art on work : but the Historian ought to demean himself otherwise . That very Simplicity of Expression which Truth requires in History , is not compatible with those Figurative Airs , which would offend its candour and ingenuity . Lucian , who is admirable upon all other accounts , is not so much upon any , as against those vain Ornaments of Eloquence , which do not become History . If you bring in too many of them , says he , you make it like Hercules dress'd up in the ornaments of his mistress : which is the greatest Extravagance imaginab●e . It is yet much less capable ( adds he ) of those glittering Flourishes which some use in Poesy , to cause those Emotions which it excites in the Heart , which stir the Soul , and raise a disturbance in the Mind by the agitation of the Passions . History , which is simple and natural , and would not have me believe any such thing , ought to leave me the freedom of my Heart , that I may pass a more solid judgment on what it tells me . Floquence , which by its proper Character is a delusive art , may attempt upon my Liberty , by endeavouring to persuade me whether I will or no : But History , which confines it self within the limits of pure instruction , cannot with any decorum make use of Figures upon any other score , than that of devesting the Discourse of its natural frigidit● , and making it less wearisom . 'T is onely thus that Herodotus , Thucydides , and Xenophon keep the Readers Mind vigilant ; nor is it ever to impose upon the publick , that Salust , Livy , and Mariana speak figuratively . Tacitus is not so scrupulous ; he has the Air of a man , who designs onely to dazle : the boldness of his Metaphors , and of his other Figures , renders his Expression as if 't were serew'd up , and of difficult comprehension . Caesar is in the other extreme ; it is a naked Discourse , without Figure , destitute of all ornament . Not but that a figurative Expression seasonably made , does sometimes please more than the proper words , in regard it creates Images that are more lively and pleasant to the Mind , and gives a vigour and generosity to the Discourse ; and there is a wise and judicious confidence of Style , which is allowable in those places , where there should be an excitation of the Spirits . But it is requisite , that the Figures to be well imployed should affect Shamefac'dness and Modesty , not assuming to themselves the liberty of those Sallies of Poesy , or the nobler sort of Eloquence . Let them not ( says Lucian ) be too splendid nor too far fetch'd , unless it be in the description of a Battel , or in an Harangue , wherein the Historian ( says he ) may unfurle the Sails of his Eloquence , yet without spreading them too far . XVII . Passions . THe Passions are also one of the great Beauties of Narration , when they are seasonably intermingled , and judiciously treated therein . Nor do they indeed require that heat which ought to attend them upon the Theatre : they ought to appear in another Air , for they are not represented by way of action , but onely related . An Historian may give his Discourse a dress of Passion , but he ought not to be in any himself . Thus does he study Man with all possible disquisition , to discover in his heart the most secret Motions which Passion is capable of exciting therein , to the end he may express the trouble and discomposure of it . This partly and pathetically done , is a great divertisement in a Narration . Thucydides has treated that part better than Herodotus , for he is more eloquent and more pathetical , according to the Sentiment of Dionysius Halicarnassaeus ; though Herodotus does sometimes betray a greater vivacity . Hermogenes proposes an admirable Model of a tender , affectionate Narration , in the death of Penthea , Queen of Susiana , which is related in the seventh Book of Xenophon's Cyrus . 'T is one of the most excellent passages of that Author ; all is related therein with a great tenderness and insinuation . Quintilian pretends , that of all the Historians Livy has most signallized himself , by those tender and delicate ways of Expression , wherein he has treated of the gentlest Motions of the Soul ; the violent carrying away of the Sabine Virgins , those Tendernesses which they made appear to disarm the Romans their Husbands , and the Sabines who were their Fathers ; the death of Lucretia , and her body expos'd to the publick , to stir up the people to a Revolt from the Tarquins ; Vetturia at the feet of her Son Cariolanus , who was come to besiege Rome , to appease him ; Virginia stabb'd with a Dagger by her own Father ; the Consternation of Rome after the Battel at Cannae ; and a thousand other passages of that kind , set down in his History with the most delicate Airs , and the most pathetical Expressions that can be imagin'd , are excellent Examples of it . And it is in this Historian that a man ought to study the Air of treating the Passions , as they ought to be treated in History ; for he animates himself onely in those places , where there is a necessity of heat and fervour . Tacitus minds not the husbanding of his fire ; he is always animated ; nay the Colours he makes use of are always too strong : and in regard he is many times too expressive in certain things , and does not make a natural Representation , he moves not the Reader . I say nothing of the other Historians , most of whom understood not the Passions , nor the manner they ought to be treated . 'T is a singular kind of Rhetorick , which requires a great Sencefulness , and a very exact knowledge of Moral Philosophy . But if we would please , let us be sure to avoid those dry Narrations , which do not excite any tenderness by those passionate Airs which Nature requires . XVIII . Descriptions . THe Affectation which most Historians seem to have for Descriptions , has somewhat decry'd the use of them amongst the Judicious : nor is there any thing so childish as an over-gawdy Description in a serious History . An Author cannot be too circumspect in the use which ought to be made of them . The Principle which ought to be therein observ'd is , that there 's no more requisite than what is necessary , to create a clearer apprehension of the things , the knowledge whereof is essential to that which a man writes . Such is the Description of the Island of Capreae in the fourth Book of Tacitus his Annals ; for it specifies the Reasons which Tiberius had to retire thither , towards the end of his days , which makes it necessary : and being short , elegant , polite , as it is , having nothing superfluous , it may be said , that it is as it should be . The description of the place where Jugurtha was defeated by Metellus in Salust , contributes to the better comprehension of the Fight . We find there an account of the Gallantry of the Romans , as also of the Experience of the King of Numidia , by the advantage he had taken in posting himself in the upper Grounds ; and the whole Relation of the Battel is better understood by that Representation of the place , which the Historian sets before our eys : as he does also the Description of the place where Hannibal attacqued Minutius , in the 22. Book of Livy's Annals , which is a passage very well couch'd . Descriptions may also be allow'd in a great History to render the Narration more divertive , provided they be to the purpose , and without that superfluity wherewith they are ordinarily attended in young Historians : the affectation they have to make an Ostentation of their Abilities that way , occasioning sometimes their falling into Childishness , which are to be pitied . Nay , Lucian quarrels at the over-tedeous Description which Thu●ydides makes of the Plague of Athens , in the second Book of his History ; and it is possible he may have some Reason for it ; for that Author ( as wise as he is ) gives too minute a Particularization of that Distemper . But it is with much more ground that the same Critick exclaims against the impertinent Historian of his time , who took so great a pleasure in making great Descriptions of Mountains , Cities , Battels , which 〈…〉 all the Snow and 〈…〉 North. Nor indeed is there any thing so frigid , as a Description too far-setch'd . The Military Machines of Caesar are describ'd in his Commentaries with too great a particularity of Circumstances , in a subject so mechanick as that is . It would seem that great Commander , whose Reputation in the management of Military Affairs is well established , had a desire also of acquiring that of an excellent Engineer ; wherein there appears too great an Air of Affectation , in a person so judicious as he was . The Description of Africk in Salust's Jugurth●ne War , is over-circumstanced ; there needed not so much to have been said , to set out the Limits of the Kingdoms of Adherbal , and Jugurtha , which was the business then in hand . What occasion was there of describing that whole Countrey , and distinguishing the Manners of the Inhabitants , with so much particularity ? It is requisite therefore that Descriptions should be necessary , exact , suc●inct , elegant , not sought for , and that they have not any thing that clashes , nor that there be discover'd a vain desire in the Author of making a greater shew of his Wit than of his Subject ; that so they may be such as they ought to be , and such as those of Livy , who is to be the Model , which they are to propose to themselves , who would make them well . XIX . Harangues . I Find the Sentiments of our Masters much differing as to this point . Herodotus , Thucydides , Xenophon , Salust , have principally signallized themselves by their Harangues . Thucydides has therein excelled the rest : the Discourses which he makes the principal Actors of his History deliver , as Pericles , Nicias , Alcibiades , Archidamus , and whole Nations , whom he introduces speaking by their Deputies , are admirable Lectures for the Orators of all Ages ; and it is principally in that School that Demosthenes had his Institution . Polybius is more reserved ; he does not make Scipio speak so much , though he might justly have done it , as having always accompanied him in his Wars . Caesar is yet more reserv'd , for he does not in a manner make any of those Harangues , pretending they derogate from the truth of History ; and making it his business onely to write plain Memoirs , that so he might be the more simple in his Discourse . Dionysius Halicarnassaeus brings in Brutus making a great Exhortation upon the death of Lucretia , to animate the people to revenge : and the Harangue he introduces Valerius making upon the Form of Government , which was most convenient for the State , in the seventh Book of his History , is of a great length . Josephus , Appianus , Dion Cassius , Procopius , are great Discoursers , as were also Thucydides and Xenophon , who had taken that Idea of Haranguing from Homer . And indeed if we examine the ground of those Discourses , especially of those which are made by chief Commanders , to encourage their Souldiers to fight , we shall find but little likelyhood in them . Trogus with much reason reproaches Salust and Livy , with the immoderate excess of Harangues in their Histories . Accordingly all those Discourses made by Grandees have an Air of Fiction : for upon what Memoirs could they have been taken ? Besides that , it is not likely a Warriour should speak as an accomplish'd Orator . So when Pericles in Thucydides commends those Souldiers who had been defeated and killed by the Boeotians , his Harangue is supposititious ; as is also that which Salust makes Catiline speak to the Conspirators , which in all probability was secret , and not much thought of before hand . And this is some part of Beny's Argument in his disapproval of that Abuse . Thucydides , who was a judicious Author , grew sensible of it in his last Books , wherein he Harangues much less than in the precedent . But it is a Lesson of Nature ; for there is no account made thereof , if they who are concerned therein are not introduc'd to speak them ; for there is not any thing else does so much animate the Narration , which is apt to become frigid by too even a thread of Discourse . There is therefore a mean or temperament to be observed : A short Discourse pertinently made in an History , by an Author fit to make such a one , and such as may be conveniently applicable to the person and the subject then concerned , may have its peculiar beauty , being set in its proper place . But those formal Harangues at the head of an Army , when they are just ready to engage , and those tiresom and prolix Deliberations , which are made upon the Affairs whereof they speak , are now in a manner obsolete and out of use in well-digested Histories ; and the wisest Authors chuse rather to introduce the persons concern'd speaking indirectly , and saying the things in general , without engaging themselves to speak the very wo●●● , as Livy has done at the beginning of his History , by the Embassadors whom Romulus sends to his Neighbours . Most of the Harangues in Salust are always admirable , and never pertinent nor to the purpose . For nothing can be more excellent than the Discourse of Marius ; it is a most solid piece of Morality upon the subject of Gallantry : all is rational in it , and Antiquity has but few Discourses of that vigour in order to the persuasion of Vertue ; but that is not in its proper place . And the Air wherewith he makes Cato and Caesar give their Votes in the Senate , is not ( as great as it is ) proportionate to the rest of the History . For the same reason the great Discourse which Dion Cassius makes in the 56. Book of his History , upon the Commendation of Marriage and Celebacy , is not very pertinent . There is not any thing comparable to the Harangue which Tacitus brings in Tiberius making in the Senate , upon the Reformation of Luxury and Riot , in the third Book of his Annals : never did Historian make a Prince speak with more Dignity . The Harangues of Agrippa and Mecaenas to Augustus , the one advising him 〈◊〉 quit the Empire , and the other to keep it , are admirable in Dion Cassius ; but they are so long , that they take up the whole 52. Book . In a word , to put a period to this Article , I am of Cicero's Opinion , who speaking of the Discourses of Thucydides , wisely says , I find them very excellent ; but I could not do as much my self if I would , nor would I do it if I could . And this is the best that can be said as to that point : for in fine , Harangues are always subject to be tedeous . And 't is a pleasant humour of Boccalini , who makes an ancient man to be condemn'd , by way of Penance , to read one of Guicciardine's Harangues , because he had read a Madrigal in the Parnassus with his Spectacles on . XX. The Characters of Persons . POurtraitures do very much imbellish an History , when they are well done : but the Romances have spoil'd us upon that score ; for we make too many of them , and such as are not like any thing . We amuse our selves in representing at random the external Accomplishments of the person , which is not the business to be done . Of what concern is it to me , to know whether Hannibal had a fair Sett of Teeth , provided his Historian discover to me the Grandeur of his Genius , provided he give me the Representation of a bold restless Spirit , of a Person of vast Projects , of an undaunted Courage , and all that animated by an uncontrollable Ambition , but kept up by a robust Constitution , as Livy has describ'd him ? Thus does Salust create in me a great Opinion of Catiline , by the Pourtraiture he makes of him at the entrance of his History . And when I see that resolute Souldier raising Armies in his Closet , going to the Senat in a silence , which denotes Resolution , to affront the Consul , slighting and scorning his Invectives , putting Rome into an Alarm , making Italy tremble ; in fine , daring that which no private person ever durst ; I am not surpriz'd , after the Description which the Historian has given me of him . I see a man of capacity and conduct , who stirs all without shewing himself , because he had laid his design well . Pompey is at a great distance with the best Forces of the Common-wealth , engag'd in an important but obstinate War ; Rome is full of disaffected persons ; the neighbouring Provinces are full of Malecontents ; there is an universal disorder in the Commonwealth , by reason of the overflux of all vices predominant therein ; and all things seem favourable to Catiline's design , in the conjuncture he takes for the execution of it . Thus may a man guess at what will happen upon the War between Adherbal and Jugurth , after the description which Salust gives of both their Genius's : thus have I a perfect knowledge of Scylla and Marius , according to the Idea he has given me of them ; and take a pleasure to see flowing down from a source , which that Historian has discovered to me , the result of the great Actions of Jugurth , who gave so much trouble to the Romans , after the Representation he has made me of that Chieftain's courage and conduct . 'T was thus the Ancients intermingled in their Histories such Pourtraitures of persons , whom they would give a particular Character of , to distinguish them from others ; which is a thing of great Ornament in a Work , when 't is pertinently done . For when the Historian has well establish'd a Character by those essential and distinctive lines , all goes the better ; every thing is more easily apprehended in the Narration . But it is a Master-piece for a man to attain that resemblance , which consists onely in those singular and imperceptible Touches , by which alone Nature is express'd , and which are hardly found , otherwise than by a particular search into mens hearts , and a discovery of all the Recesses thereof , to get a perfect knowledge of what lies conceal'd . But what vivacity of Spirit , and what perspicacity is there not requisite to do that ? Take here then what is to be observed therein : The Pourtraiture or Character ought to be real ; and so Xenophon is defective in the Pourtraiture he has made of Cyrus , wherein he has given us a Hero in Idea . It ought to resemble the person represented ; in which case Tacitus is not exact , who makes it his business rather to follow his own genius , than to imitate Nature ; endeavouring rather to make beautiful pieces , than good draughts ; provided his representations please , as that of Sejanus , in the fourth of his Annals , he minds not how little they resemble , for he makes him more wicked than he was , if we may believe Paterculus , who much commends him . There ought not to be any Pourtraitures made but of the most important persons ; as to which particular Salust is mistaken in the Pourtraiture of Sempronia , who comes but indirectly into Catiline's Conspiracy . But though a man ought not to amuse himself too much in describing the external qualifications of the person , yet may it be done upon certain occasions , when it is conducive to a better discovery of the genius of those who are spoken of . And indeed there are many ways of representing persons . Livy speaking of Lucretia , who was so beautiful in the eye of her Husband , giving no description of her Countenances gives an account onely of her Vertue , and in two words sets down the greatest Idea which could be given a vertuous Woman . Taictus describes Tiberius onely by his Actions ; and 't is by those that he makes a discovery of him . Lampridius gives us a description of the fantastick humour of the Emperour He 〈◊〉 , when he tells us , that , after he had glutted his Parasites with good cheer , he caus'd them to be smother'd in great heaps of Flowers . Procopius describes the Empress Theodor● by her Venereal Debauches . The Historian of Wences●●us thinks it enough to pitch upon one debauch'd act to give a Pourtraitive of that Emperour : He order'd ( says he ) his Cook to be spitted and rousted , because he had not roasted a Pig , which he intended to eat of , to his mind . But the hest way of describing is that of discovering the secret motions and inclinations of the Heart , from which we may derive a better knowledge of the person ; 't is thence alone we ought to assume that Air which distinguishes ; to give a man a Character ▪ built upon the ground work whence it is taken . All the rest ought to be but of little account in a serious History , which cannot admit of any thing but what is judicious . Nor do I like those copied Pourtraitures ; made up of an intermixture of several pieces , such as 〈◊〉 has , which he has taken out of Tacitus ; nor such as that of Walste●n in 〈◊〉 , which is compos'd of most of the excellent Pourtrat●● of Antiquity . A man ought not to amuse himself in taking of Copies when he draws by the Life , and thinks to make an Original . In fine , History is the most faithful representation of the persons of whom it speaks ; for nothing makes a greater discovery of their Character , than the Consequences of their Actions . XXI . Reflections and Sentences . THis Article will much exercise our Discussive Faculty , as being that which makes the whole Delicacy of History , when it is treated with that tenderness which that Subject requires . But what deviations and mistakes are there not to be avoided , in a track wherein a man cannot walk too simply ? Xenoph●n , Polybius , and Tacitus are very liberal in point of Reflections . Thucydides , Salust , and Caesar are more reserv'd . What side should we take 〈◊〉 so great Examples , upon so different a ●onduct , and in a matter so important ? Certain it is , that what beauty soever History may expect from these sorts of Ornaments , there is not any thing relating thereto , that ought to be better or more cautiously manag'd . For in a word , to morali●e upon all things , and without 〈…〉 to put the Adventures which present themselves , great and little into curious and political Reflections , implies a quitting of the Character of an Historian , who ought simply to relate what he has to say , without shuffling into the Relation what comes into his own Head. Nor is there any thing more capable of altering the Truth , or at least of entangling it , than those subtile Conceptions which an Author thrusts in of his own , and which the Reader has not the ingenuity to unravel , from that part which is purely historical . It is therefore wisdom in an Author , not to be ridiculously over-conceited of his own sence , that so he may act the part of a Philosopher indifferently , upon whatever presents it self to him , as ▪ Ammianus . Marcellinus , who plays the Philosopher too much , out of a mis-understood Affectation to appear Learned . Livy keeps on his way , without stopping at any thing ; he says what he knows upon the things he speaks of , and he leaves the Reader to make Reflections himself , and does not prepossess him with his own ; and when he does so , 't is in few words , but noble and great ones : as for instance , what he says of the Crime and Punishment of Appius , who had forcibly carried away Virginia . It is a great talent in an Author , to know how to find work for those who read him , by giving them matter , that they may deduce Consequences from it , and take those Prospects to the things he relates , which they shall think fit . For every Reader would have the freedom of think what he pleases upon what is presented to him , and not be prepossessed ; and the use of that freedom is one of the greatest divertisements he takes in his reading . Let us therefore retrench those profound and abstracted Reflections , if our design be to please ; let us not subtilize so much in what we write , but let us endeavour to be simple and natural . Let us speak the truth without commenting upon it , if we have the steddiness and strength of ingenuity to do it . Let us above all things avoid those usual Moralizations upon Fortune and her inconstancy , whereof some Books are so full . Let us not involve our selves in those over-sententious Sayings , which aim onely at splendour and decoration . Let us renounce those Clinchings , and all those delusive Sentiments , which some Authors of mean parts exercise upon words . But if we make an intermixture of Reflections in our Discourse ; let them be naturally deducible from the ground of the Subject ▪ let them not be too subtile or over-studied ; let them have less Splendour than Solidity ; let them come nearer the ratiocination of a wise Politician , than the affectation of a Declamator ; let them not be either too frequent , and without an apparent connection , but enchac'd , or inter woven in some manner in the body of the Work. In fine , let them not have that forc'd Air of Reflections , which creates an ill Opinion of him who makes them . As to this particular Tacitus , Machi●vel , P●●lus J●vi●● , D'avila , and most of the Italians and Sp●●iards , are excessive . Besides , let not any one amuse himself in making those curious Reflections , whether upon a political or morel account , unless he have a perfect knowledge of the person he speaks of , as also of the Illusions of his mind , and the Weaknesses of his heart ; for it is by that knowledge that good Historians are distinguished from mean ones , as Plutarch in his Lives . Salust , as great a● Endeavourer of Simplicity as he is , amuses himself too much in declaring against the corruptions and immorality of his time ; he is always incens'd against his Countrey , and always disgusted with the Government ; he creates too bad an Opinion of the Common-wealth , by his Invectives and Reflections upon the Luxury of Rome . And indeed , though ●●ere be not any thing of falshood in what he says , yet he devi●ces from the spirit which first ●nimated him . Nor would D'avila be so much a Declamator , if he did not sometimes forget that he is onely an Historian . It is also requisite that a man should be deeply skill'd in Morality , e're he can make pertinent and seasonable Reflections ; for true Morality is the Ground-work of good Policy . And so it may be said , that Tacitus his Politicks are many times false , because his Morality is not true ; wherein he attributes too great a Corruption to men , or he has not sufficiently that talent of implicity he ought to have : there is not ordinarily any thing natural in his Reflections , because there is not any thing innocent ; he envenoms all , and gives all things the worst Gloss that may be . By those ways has he corrupted the Minds of many persons , who imitate him in this particular , not being able to do it in others . And this is what I conceive observable as to the use of Reflections upon the score of History . A sententious Saving may be seasonably put into the mouth of a person , whose Character qualifies him for the speaking of Sentences . In my judgment Mariana and Strada have not been sufficiently careful in this particular . Nor is there any kindness to be had for that over-serious sort of Writers , who will not be put out of their track ; and who to give an Air of greater importance to what they say , multiply Sentences upon Sentences , Reflections upon Reflections , and by a ridiculous Gravity play the Cato's upon trifles . An excessive humour of subtilizing in these over-sought Conjectures , is apt to degenerate into a delusive delicacy of writing ; and Reflections are not good but when they have least the Air of Reflection . XXII . Digressions . DIgressions have also their peculiar grace , when they are made where they ought to be , and not chargable with any indetermination or want of connection , inasmuch as they give the Narration that variety which is requisite to render it divertive ; but there ought to be a prudent distribution and inter-mixture of them . A man is apt to be misled when he leaves his Subject ; for wanting the requisite recollection , he is apt to take the wrong course ; and for a man to quit the matter he had propos'd to himself , without any Precaution , and so to go and seek out Adventures , onely to give his Reader a more spacious prospect , does not so well stand with the Character of an Historian , as it does with that of an Adventurer , who minds every thing , purposely to thrust into his Narrative whatever comes in his way ; he takes Cities , gives Battels , and makes Adventures every where ; as Herodotus does , who is continually starting out of his matter by over-frequent Digressions , and those many times forc'd , though he had taken Homer for his Patern , who is a great Master in it ; for though he often takes a high soaring flight , yet he pursues his course directly enough to his mark , without deviating by introducing things that are incongruous . Thucydides is more regular than Herodotus ; he keeps close to his Subject , without starting out of it . The Conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogiton , in the sixth Book , is one of those Digressions wherein he has most excell'd . Xenophon endeavours to imitate him ; if he sometimes miscarries , as he does in the fifth Book of the History of Cyrus , in the Adventure of Panthea , yet that Adventure has a natural connection with the body of his History ; Panthea having been taken by Cyrus in the Defeat of the Assyrians , and King Abradaras her Husband having engag'd himself in the Party of Cyrus , and been made one of the Generals of his Army . True it is , that I would not be answerable for the other Digressions of that Author , which have not that absolute connection to the Subject they ought to have in his other Works . Polybius has frequent Digressions upon the point of Politicks , the Science of Military Affairs , and the Laws of History , which seem not very necessary . Salust is sometimes chargeable with the same fault ; upon which score a modern Critick blames them both . Photius does very much commend the Digression which Dionysius Halicarnassaeus makes in his seventh Book , in describing the Consequences of Aristomedus his Tyranny . The Question about the Phoenix handled in the sixth Book of Tacitus his Annals , upon occasion of the News which was brought to Rome of a Phoenix that appear'd in Egypt , in the Reign of Tiberius , is within the rules of a just Digression . The Question is search'd into by the different Opinions of Naturalists upon the Bird ; its Qualities , its Figure , all is there describ'd in few words . A Flourish of that nature well plac'd is of great Ornament in a Narration , and it excites the Curiosity of the Reader , and keeps his Mind vigilant and attentive . Nor is there any thing gives the History of Mariana that Air of Grandeur which it has , so much as the Art which that Author has of introducing into it , by the means of Digression , whatever passes in the world that 's considerable , whatever is admirable in fabulous times , and whatever is remarkable in Greece , Sicily , and the Roman Empire . There you have a very particular account of the Republick of Carthage , which it will be hard to find better couch'd any where else : as also of the Sieges of Saguntus and Numantia , of Hannibal's Passage into Italy , the series of the Emperours , the first setting up of Christianity , the Preaching of the Gospel , the Conquests of the Arabians , and several other Imbellishments which are of the sublime Character . 'T is a genius ever minding transcendent matters , which yet have a constant dependence by something to the History of Spain . No Historian ever honour'd his Countrey by any Work so much as he has done , for he makes whatever was transacted of any great account in the world contributory to the Honour of his own Countrey . But as there are few Authors who have that vigour of genius , as to follow the thread of a History with the same breath , and to keep themselves close to the same Subject , without starting from it ; so are there but few Historians , who do not sometimes forget themselves by being overseen in their Digressions . I shall not trouble myself to observe them , they are obvious : for nothing is more rare than that exactness of senceful Connection , which knows how to keep close to its Subject . This I shall onely affirm , that Livy has not more carefully avoided any thing , than those Deviations which diverted him from his matter in hand , as he declares himself ; in regard that nothing does so much betray a want of Judgment . But we might find even at this day in some of our Historians , that ridiculous humour which L●cian censur'd ●n those , who in his time writing the Wars of the Parthians , shuffled into their Narrations the fondest and the most extravagant Imaginations in the world , onely to make them the more divertive , making their Excursions out of Country into Country , out of Ages into Ages , out of Adventures into Adventures , without any discernment . It ought therefore to be laid down as a certain Rule , and such as is not to be dispenc'd withall ; That Digressions ought always to have a Connection by something to the principal Subject that is treated of ; as it has always been observed by that Judicious Historian we mentioned before : and it must be strictly examined , whether there be not at the bottom some natural incompatibility between them and it ; otherwise they are no way proper thereto , for nothing is more essential to Digression , than the Rapport which it ought to have to the Subject , and the great mystery is , that a man precisely know how far it ought to be extended , for it has its natural Boundaries , which must not be exceeded . And what makes this measure the more difficult is this , that the extent which must be given it ought not to be always the same ; for it ought to be great or little , proportionably to the greater or lesser Connection it has to the principal part of the History ; and this very Discernment is the Rock upon which most Historians are ●ast . For there are not any , who in the Digressions wherein they engage themselves , do not exceed the Limits they should have observ'd , by reason of the difficulty there is in the exact and regulated Observance thereof . And in this particular we may be somewhat censorious upon Mariana , who in the beginning of his History has taken great compasses and windings , in order to the carrying on of his main design : as to this he stands in some need of Apology , and I cannot undertake his Vindication . The onely Model to be propos'd as to this point is Livy , who makes no deviation out of the Roman History , so much as to deliver his Sentiment upon the Success of Alexander's Arms , in case he should have come into Italy , without taking great Precautions , and without preengaging mens minds by very elaborate Excuses . The discourse he makes upon that consideration is very curious , and very pertinently apply'd . XXIII . The Eloquence proper to History . HIstory ought to be eloquent , that so i● may not be wearisom , and in this ought its Art principally to consist ; and this is its or inary effect . But there is also an extraordinary one known to very few persons , to wit , that of not speaking ought that is true , but what has withall the Air of truth , that it may merit Credibility , in the things that are more difficultly credible . The Eloquence which knows how to give things the right prospect they ought to have , is particularly applicable in this case ; and the accurate distribution of matters in that admirable order and compagination , which gives them ve●●similitude , is its principal work . The Historian has his matter given him by the Memoirs wherewith he is supply'd , but the distribution of it is his peculiar province ; and to manage that as it ought to be , he should not so much reflect on what he says , as on the manner how he says it ; for in this as well as in the other parts of Eloquence , the manner is all in all . And this is properly the use which the Historian ought to make of Eloquence , which alone disposes every thing into its proper place , that it may there have its effect . This is the great artifice of Thucydides , who ( as Cicero affirms ) surpass'd all the other Historians by his Eloquence . Quintilian does not speak of that of Livy , but with admiration . And it is indeed by that admirable quality that those two great men have so highly distinguished themselves from the common rank of other Historians : for it is Eloquence that gives a man the talent of expressing himself . He who most clearly expresses himself is most persuasive , and it is onely persuasion that imprints on things that tincture of Truth , which they have not but by deriving it from the Air that is given them , and from the position and prospect wherein they are plac'd . Accordingly there cannot be any thing more eloquent than the Description which Salust makes of the State Rome was in , when Catiline design'd to become the Master of it . And when that admirable Author represents the Common-wealth corrupted by Luxury and Avarice , weakned by the weight of its own Grandeur , you have the expressions of the most exquisite Eloquence that is to be found in History . It is in those draughts and representations that Art ought to shew it self , when a man is Master of it : and the Historians of the first rank are full of them . 'T is this sort of Eloquence that ought to be interwoven with History , that it may be animated by its fire and spirit ; for without that every thing languishes . And those different Dresses which ought to be given to the Narration , to render it delightful ; all that artifice of Transitions , those so delicate and so passionate Sallies , which smite the Reader 's tenderest part ; that intertexture and compagination of the most memorable Matters of Fact , that regular distribution of Circumstances , and all those conspicuous passages which excite Admiration , are onely the effects of that singular sort of Eloquence which is proper to History , and ought sometimes to take a soaring flight when occasion requires . But it must be the discerning Perspicacity of the Historian , that shall distinguish those passages . There reigned amongst the Greeks , and indeed amongst the Romans , a kind of Eloquence in the Harangues of the persons whom they introduc'd speaking , which proceeded from pure Ostentation , and made a greater shew of the Historians Ingenuity than of the Truth of the History , and wherein they made it not so much their business to instruct , as to dazle and amuse the Reader . That Eloquence is grown obsolete amongst those of the Moderns , who are of soundest Judgment , because it had a certain Air of Affectation , and that such as are able to discern do fancy onely what is natural . The Prefaces of Salust , which are large Discourses well-couch'd , instructive , and very eloquent , seem to me to be of that kind , as being a sort of Common-places that have no Rapport to the History . Possibly that Author had some Pieces in store , which he made use of as occasion required ; as Cicero did , according to his own acknowledgment ; I have ( says he ) a Volum of Prefaces always ready for the occasions I may have of them . I should never have suspected Cicero guilty of that foresight , had he not bragg'd of it himself . It might do well in an Orator , who many times speaks in publick , and has not always the leisure to prepare himself : but it is not to be allow'd in a History , where a man is Master of himself and his time . For in short , all those Discourses how plausible soever they may be of themselves , are no longer such when they are out of their proper place , and as soon as they make any discovery of Affectation . And thus much as to the Eloquence of History . XXIV . Other Imbellishments which may be imploy'd in History . THere may be yet other Beauties and Embellishments fit to be us'd in the Structure of History , in order to the making of it more cheerful and sprightly , either when it is apt to languish , or when it is carried on with too even a thread , by long-winded Relations , which are not sufficiently diversified . But of such Embellishments , those which make the greatest shew do not always produce the greatest effect . There is always somewhat that 's counterfeit in what is most glittering . A mind which is limited takes no pleasure in too much lustre ; and that consideration ought to oblige an accomplish'd man so to husband those Embellishments , as not to be prodigal of them , and to proportion himself to the capacity of man , whom excessive Light dazles ; besides that , when these Beauties are too frequent , they rather astonish than delight . There are some , which being not so obvious , give a greater satisfaction to the more delicate sort of Readers , by whom they are observ'd , though they are not so by the ordinary . Men still discover new Graces in them , which keep them up , and are of longer continuance than what makes a sudden impression , by its being too much expos'd to Apprehension . These sorts of Beauties do sometimes consist in certain sudden turns of Eloquence or Wit , which have somewhat that 's surprizing in them , and produce an unexpected effect in the passages wherein they are plac'd . Of which take these Examples . Porsenna King of Clusium besieges Rome ; Caius M●tius being much troubled at the danger his Countrey was in , by reason of so pressing a Siege , goes over into Porsenna's Camp , and kills his Secretary who stood by him , thinking he had kill'd the King himself . The Murtherer is seiz'd , and a Fire is prepar'd to make him discover his Accomplices . Upon which the undaunted young man held his hand in cold bloud over the live Coals , till it was quite burnt off , without any shrinking , and said to the King , See now how de●picable Life is to those , who lo●k at great fame . This Sentence spoken with an undaunted Spirit , changes the face of things : the Murtherer , who was before odious and detestable , raises amazement in the minds of the Spectators . They look on him with a kind of respect , and he is sent back with an Elogy , whom they were but just before ready to take off by exquisite torments . 'T is but a word that makes that change ; and that word thus plac'd is of great Ornament in a Narration , and has a marvellous effect . Upon the taking of Tarentum by Fabius , Hannibal , though wholly defeated , had this excellent Saying , which still argued a victorious mind , when in commending the Enemy , he took occasion to commend himself also , The Romans ( says he ) have also their Hannibal . A bold demeanour in a person discomfited . And these Touches are frequent in that Historian . Nor is there any thing that raises a greater Idea of those who are made to speak thus , when they speak well , nor yet of him who does make them speak , when he does it pertinently . Take yet another Instauce of it out of Tacitus , in that famous Treat which Messalina made for her Gallant , in the very height of the Enjoyment , and the Debauches of that Entertainment , they sent up to the top of a Tree a simple person named Valens , and one ask'd him what he saw , A Tempest ( said he ) rising in the air , and seeming to come from Ostia . That very word spoken by an inconsiderate person , begat such a pensiveness and perplexity in their minds , as occasion'd a general disturbance , though it had been said without any design . For it prov'd a Prognostick of the Emperour's return , who arriv'd shortly after , and wearied out with the infamous Deportments of the Empress , order'd her to be stabb'd . These Touches having somewhat in them tending to prodigy , are ornamental in History , as being by their smartness and pi●quancy apt to keep the mind in a continual posture of Vigilance . There are a thousand others , which the Historian may make use of , in order to the giving of his Work the greater sprightliness , which I do not pretend to give a particular account of . 'T is enough that I have hinted at what may give another face to Affairs , raise other Conjectures , and occasion other Idea's and Sentiments . In short , all those delicate Touches , and such as are capable of making a kind of Revolution in the mind of the Reader , and so to put it into motion and exercise , being always real Embellishments , are always apposite and to the purpose . What is of greatest importance is , that they be plac'd after such a manner , as that they seem to be enchac'd in the Narration , there to have their design'd effect ; that is to say , that they be conducive to give the subject matter a certain Alacrity , when of it self it becomes dry and unpleasant . XXV . The Sentiments which ought to be conspicuous and predominant in History . THere are some Sentiments which are fit for the Theatre , and are not so for History ; in regard that Poesy speaks things as they ought to be , and History as they are . Accordingly those Historians who give their Hero's such exquisite Sentiments , are not always the most judicious ; and whatever is not grounded upon sound Sence , how plausible soever it may otherwise be , is not always the best . So that Quintus Curtius is not altogether in the right , when he represents Alexander as a person so admirable . He never makes him take the most prudent course that might be taken , but the most heroick and the most hazardous . He looks upon danger as what has something of Charm in it ; and he does not so much love Conquests , as the Glory of Conquering . He may surprize Darius by attacquing him in the night-time , and by that means conceal his own weakness , the Enemy's Army being twice the number of his . But that great man , whose thoughts are less bent upon conquering , than upon having his Valour admir'd , engages the King of Persia in the day-time , resolv'd rather to perish gloriously , than to overcome by surprizes . Darius after his Defeat proffers to divide Asia with him , and proposes to him an Intermarriage with his Daughter ; but Alexander would rather make his way to Fame through danger , than to gain preheminence with tranquillity . He hearkens not to those Proposals , and would not have any thing but what is extraordinary . 'T is true , his Historian does him much honour , but in that great acquest of Glory is there not some defect in point of Verisimilitude ? Does he not make his Hero more daring than prudent , and represent him rather as an hazardous Adventurer , than a person of great Ambition ? No doubt he thought that the more plausible way , but he has thereby given us occasion to doubt whether it be 〈◊〉 Romance or a History he hath left us ; so far has he overshot himself as to that point . Of so great concern is it , that an Author keep ▪ close in all things to Reason , which ought to regulate his Sentiments , and follow rather the nature of the things , than the charming Idea's of his own imagination . Let not History therefore by any means countenance those ridiculous projects for the acquest of an imaginary same , which occasion unsettled minds to commit so many miscarriages , inasmuch as most of them go but blindly in the pursuit of true honour , because they know not what it is . Let it not inspire a solid man with the Sentiments of a Palladin or Knight Errant , nor attribute the Vertues of a Romantick Hero to a true Courter of Honour . Great persons are apt to frame to themselves Idea's of Reputation according to their own Fancies , and answerably to the bent of their own Vanity . But the Publick Interest ought to be more dear to him who governs , than his own Fame ; and the true Honour of a great Prince is , that he be lov'd rather than fear'd . These are the Sentiments which ought to be most predominant in History , that so it may be a Lecture of Clemency to Princes , and a Rule of Reason and sound Instruction to all people . Let not the Historian therefore be mistaken , let him in the first place be able to distinguish between true and counterfeit Honour in the Maxims of Life , that so he may not commend any thing but what is commendable . Let him undeceive people of their Errors , without becoming himself a Slave to popular Sentiments . Let him not suffer them to judge of things by their events , without reascending to the sources , that he may acquaint them with the Principles thereof . Let him be careful to do justice to true and false merit , that so he may not impose any thing upon Posterity , which is apt to credit what is said without examining it , and to keep to the literal sence of what it meets withall . Let him never make a discovery of great Emergencies , without some advertisement of their Causes , and without laying open the secret Contrivances and Ressorts by which they were compass'd . That many times is something very inconsiderable ; but men take a pleasure to see great effects arising from small principles , as Dionysius Halicarnass●u● informs us in the fifth Book of his History , upon occasion of the Revolution of the Regal Government at Rome , caus'd by the insolence of young Tarquin , and the haughty deportment of his Father . And this is the Spirit which ought to be predominant in History , and these the Maxims which the Historian ought to observe . We come now to see what kind of genius he ought to have . XXVI . What Genius the Historian ought to be of . IT is not to be imagin'd , that any thing considerable can be written in History without a Genius ▪ this is that which does all in all in this Art , as well as in the others : and it is onely by this that some Historians may be distinguish'd from others . A mean Genius shall make but a small matter of a great Subject ; and he who has a great Genius shall make great things of a small subject . He therefore who would write History well , ought to have an universal and comprehensive Spirit , and such as is capable of great Idea's , that he frame to himself a great Draught and Design of what he intends to do . History ( says Cicero ) is a work of great importance , and not to be attempted but by a person above the common rate of men . And when Lucian , who was one of the greatest Wits of his Age , which produc'd so many celebrated men , acknowledges that his Genius was too weak for History , and not able to reach that Perfection which it requires , he puts me into some astonishment , and raises in me a very great Idea of the difficulty there is for a man to acquit himself well of that charge . For if that Author , who has not written any thing but what is admirable , and who gives Rules for the writing of History , so senceful and instructive , ingeniously confesses , that he is not himself capable of supporting the weight of so great an undertaking , what are we to think of those persons who become Historians on a sudden , without ever having any knowledge of what is essential to History ? As it happen'd ( says he ) in that War of Armenia , mention'd by him , which begat so many Authors , who out of a pure it●h of writing would needs be dabbling upon that subject . That will not do the work , says he ; for there is nothing more difficult than for a man to labour for Eternity , as Thucydides has done . For what vigour of Mind is there not requisite to deliver the truth , without paraphrasing upon it , as they do , who have not their Souls great enough to observe the Rules of a candid simplicity , and to relate things as they are ? What unbyass'd Constancy is there not requisite to unmask the Vice , which is naturally conceal'd in the artifices of Dissimulation ? What Penetration and Perspicacity is there not necessary to discover the recesses of their Genius , of whom a man is to speak without amusing himself about the external consideration of their persons , which does hardly ever signifie any thing ? But when his work is to make a distinction between whole Nations and Ages , by what is essential in their Character , what steddiness of Apprehension is there not requisite ? As for instance , in a relation of the Civil Wars of Rome , not to confound the Spirit and Humour of the Commonwealth , with that of Monarchy , the Independence of the one with the Dependence of the other ; not to attribute in a History of France the Manners of the Age of Lewis XIV , which is no way superstitious , to the Age of Lewis XI , whose Character was Superstition it self ; not to make Charlemaign such a one as Henry III , and to denote the times and persons by what is particularly remarkable in their difference . What Principles of Equity should not a man have for the exact Administration of Justice to Vice and Vertue , for the distinguishing of true and apparent Merit , and for a man's accustoming himself not to look on the Actions , without reflecting on the Persons ? What Judgment is there not needful for a man to pitch upon the right side in all things , to display things in their best sence , to be always tending to what is most solid ; so to interpose his own Sentiment upon the matters of which he discourses , as not to force the Reader by Prejudgments ; not to descant upon the passages that seem delicate , but with that delicacy of Reflection , which cannot be the effect of any thing but an exquisite sence ; not to charge his Discourse with too much matter , such as many smother the smartness of it , without allowing therein some place for what Reflection he might make himself , or giving his Reader a convenience to make any ; to be able to find out the real Knot there may be in every Affair , without any danger of mistaking , and so to clear the difficulty ; not to make a recital of great Events upon frivolous motives ; not to conceal false Conceptions of things under a pompous Expression ; to avoid what seems to have too strong a Scent of Study , and whatever has a forc'd Air ; and to follow in all things that Beam of Light and Intelligence , which gives an Idea of the discernment of the Historian , by raising a good opinion of his Capacity and Endowments ? So that the part most necessary to History is Judgment● The Orator may break forth into Sallies of Eloquence , such as are lively and slorid , and ●un the hazard of taking those boldnesses , which may prove succesful in a great Concourse of people , who are not taken with any thing so much as Confidence . The Poet may expatiate out of his subject , and not have his Wits always about him : But the Historian , who speaks in cold bloud , ought ever to be Master of himself , have the command of his thoughts , and not speak any thing but what is judicious . In short , there is not any thing requires so great a stock of Sencefulness , so much Reason , so great Wit , so much Judgment , and so many other qualities , as History , if written as it ought to be ; and yet when all is done , a fortunate Disposition enrich'd with all these Accomplishments , must have one additional Perfection , to wit , that of a particular Conversation of the greatest persons . 'T was by the familiar acquaintance which Polybius had with Scipio and Laelius , that he became so excellent an Historian . We have in Thucydides and Livy the accomplish'd Models which History requries ; Antiquity has not any thing of greater perfection in that kind ; and there is hardly any thing to be wished for in either of them , unless it be that Thucydides is yet more sincere than Livy , and Livy more natural than Thucydides●Tacitus is admirable in his way ; Lapsuis prefers him before all the rest , but all are not of his Sentiment . It may be said in the general , that he is an Historian of a particular Method by himself , who has great beauties , together with great defects ; but his defects are somewhat shadowed under a Grandeur of Genius , which is conspicuous in whatever he says ; as also under somewhat of the sublime Character , which exalts him above many Authors , who are more exact and more natural than he is . He has his Adherents and his Admirers . 'T is true , he pleases those who are talented with the imaginative part ; but as to those who are more for Judgment , and such as affec● Sencefulness rather than Embellishment or Eloquence , they are not so well satisfied with him . Amongst the Moderns I find Mariana , D'avila , and Fra. Paolo , of an admirable genius for History . Mariana has the talent of reflecting and expressing excellently well what he thinks and has to say , and of giving a Character of Grandeur to what is transacted in his mind . D'avila does circumstance things well , reasons appositely enough upon the Subjects he treats of , and gives his Discourse that evenness of thread and intertexture , from which it derives that insinuating Air , which is observable in him above the rest . Fra. Paolo , in his History of the Council of Trent , gives what colour and prospect he pleases to what he says ; never had any man that Art in a more eminent degree than he has . He also makes a discovery of a vast Capacity , in the talent he has of making profound Researches into the points of Doctrine whereof he treats , in order to give his Reader an exact account of them . Never did Author write with more artifice , or greater smartness of wit , nor yet with less reason and truth . He is a passionate Author , who imploys his Art in concealing his Passion . He would be pleasant and drollish upon all occasions , that he might not be thought angry and out of humour ; but he falls by that means into another default . He is too much given to Raillery in a Subject so serious as that which he treats of ; for Passion spreads it self through all he says . And so that Historian , with all his great genius , is the most vicious Character that may be seen in the way of writing History , wherein there is not any thing less pardonable than Animosity . When an Historian has once the repute of being prepossess'd with some Passion , he is no longer believ'd . And this Reflection gives us occasion to examine the Morality which is requisite in him who makes it his business to write . XXVII . The Morality of the Historian . WHereas every one frames to himself a Morality according to his Genius , there is a discovery made of the Spirit and Humor of an Historian by his Principles . This must in the first place be laid down as granted , that there are few of them so generously minded , as to be free from all Hope or Fear , and unconcernedly prefer Truth before their Interest , which later is the most universal Source of all the false Judgments which men make of the things whereof they take upon them to speak . This therefore ought to be the first thing that is taken into consideration , when a man makes it his profession to instruct the publick ; and it is the first Maxim that an Historian ought to propose to himself . This being well established , his thoughts must be bent upon the gaining of Credibility in mens minds , and to give an Air of Truth to whatever he says . And to this principally ought all his Morality to be levell'd , and that the Historian will never do but by a solid Establishment of his Reputation : and it is not by Protestations of being sincere that he shall give proofs of his sincerity ; but it is done by making a discovery in all his words of the steddiness of his Heart , and the unbyassable Integrity of his Sentiments . Accordingly nothing ought to fall from him , but what bears the Character of Reason and Equity . The love he ought to have for Truth should be the rule and standard of all his Expressions , and all his Idea's . Let him always speak as a just and vertuous man , and never let any thing slip from him which may be injurious to Modesty and Integrity . Let him be severe and inflexible in the Sentiments which the most exact consideration of Honour can inspire him withall ; and let there never appear any thing in his words which may occasion any distrust of his Candour and Ingenuous Deportment . Let it be believ'd that he speaks what is true as soon as he speaks it ; that persuasion being grounded on the assurance men have that he is uncapable of imposing . He can never do amiss who has laid such good Principles as these . 'T is by such an unblemish'd Morality that Thucydides establish'd the Reputation of his Sincerity in all subsequent Ages , and that he has gain'd the belief of all people . 'T is by a love to Religion , and a respect for the Gods , which is conspi●uous in the Works of Xenophon , that whatever he says is credited ; men being easily persuasible , that a man who has the love of Piety so deeply engraven in his heart , cannot utter a Falshood . Polybius is more a Libertine ; he treats as fabulous things the Sentiments which the people had of the Gods and of Hell , pretending quite to discredit them . And it is also by an unblameable Morality that Lavy is more persuasive , than by his great Accomplishments ; nay through all the Intrigues , Interests , Passions , and other irregular proceedings of the men whom he decyphers , he lets you see a certain thread of Probity , which discovers him to be yet a more honest man than a good Historian . In the darkest recesses of their Hearts whom he describes , you may behold the clearness of his own ; and amidst the false Lights which he discovers in their Conduct , he always takes a true prospect of things himself : he makes sound Judgments of every thing , for his Soul is as steddy as his Mind is well balanc'd . Tacitus is a man of a quite different Character : he is a great Wrester of things to what sense he pleases himself , and one that shrouds a malicious Heart under a very excellent Wit. He is always mistaken upon the point of true Merit , because he is not acquainted with any but what proceeds from subtilty ; and it is rather some political Reflection than the pure truth that makes him speak . Besides the ill thoughts he has of his Neighbour , whenever he has any occasion to speak of the Gods , he makes not any discovery of Piety or Religion , as may be seen in the Discourses he has upon Destiny against . Providence , in the sixth of his Annals ; and he imputes all things to the Stars and to Chance , upon the occasion of Thrasullus , who being Astrologer to Tiberius , was become his Confident at Capreae . So difficult a matter it is for a man who is not vertuous to make a good Historian ; for the Principles of the one are not compatible with those of the other . When therefore an Author takes Pen in hand , he immediately puts on the Character of a publick person ; and he again degrades himself from that Honour , as soon as he assumes the Sentiments of a private man , to mind himself , and to revenge his own quarrels . This was the case of Procopius , who being exasperated against the Emperour Justinian and the Empress Theodora , hearkens to his passion , and corrupts the Truth . Or else he is apt to follow his own Preoccupation , as Eusebius and Theodoret did , who made use of their Histories to establish their own Errors , or to flatter those whom they would please , as Buchanan did , who in his History of Scotland took occasion to blast the Reputation of Queen Mary Stuart , purposely to gratifie Queen Elizabeth of England . And as Fra. Paolo did , who makes his History of the Council of Trent a Satyr against the Roman Church and Religion , in whose conduct he makes a great discovery of little Cheats and Frauds , only to revenge himself upon the Pope , who did not advance him to the Dignity of a Cardinal , after he had put him in some hopes of it . Paulus Jovius was a man who did things pursuantly to his Interest , a Pensioner of Charles the Fifth , unjust , malicious , and a great Flatterer . The Pourtraitures he has made of the most considerable persons of his History , are so many pieces detach'd from it , which he dress'd up into Lives of Illustrious Men , out of the pure design of getting Money ; and they are writ answerably to the Rewards he received for them . Guicciardine betrays the Passion he has against all France . Sandoval makes Charles the Fifth pass for a most Catholick Prince , while in the mean time he foments Heresie in Germany , onely because Pope Paul the Third had disgusted him . Cabrera celebrates Philip the Second of Spain for his Piety , though he favour'd Queen Elizabeth against the Pretensions of Mary Stuart , whom he hindered from being Queen , because she had a kindness for the French , and by that means obstructed the Settlement of the Catholick Religion in England . Herrera is a superficial Writer , and partial in the Concerns of his own Nation . In short , there are hardly any Historians , who have not their Inclinations and Aversions ; they think it a bard task to devest themselves of their Sentiments , and they make Elogies or Satyrs according to the dispositions of their own Hearts . But there are few Authors of such a Character as Thucydides was of , who out of an unbyass'd sincerity commends Pericles in whatever he did that was commendable , though he had been ill-treated by him ; and always does justice to the Athenians , who had banish'd him into Thrace , where he dy'd . He was a man without any passion , who propos'd to himself onely what judgment Posterity should make of his Work , and was resolutely bent to stick to the truth ; wherein he has shewn him a better-principled man than any of the others , for his Fidelity and Probity is remarkable through all his Work. Titus Livius is more favourable to Pompey than to Caesar , Dion more favourable to Caesar than to Pompey . An●●i 〈◊〉 Marcellinus is a perpetual Adorer of Julian the Apostate , and a great Declamator against Valentinian his Successor , because he was a Christian . Eusebius never shews Constantine but with the best side outward ; Zosimus shews him onely with the worst . P●ocopius ●●oliz'd Belizarius ; Eginart had the same Veneration for Charlemaigne , Sandoval for Charles the Fifth , Strada for Alexander Earnese . In s●●e , every Historian makes himself a● 〈◊〉 according to his own fancy , whom he looks on 〈◊〉 his Creature ; and to make him the more beautiful he endeavours to make him the more admirable . And this is it that raises a suspicion of most Histories , because all Historians have their passions ; and there are few of them sincere , because there are few but follow the bent of some Interest . On the other side , they who are not sway'd by interest , are apt to be blinded with the desire of pleasing , and the care they have of their Reputation , inclines them to other Extremities . Josephus in the History of the Jews , suppresses true Miracles to humour the Pagans , who would not have believ'd them ; and supposes things less true , because he thought them such as were suitable to their gust and capacity . This is the way to destroy , and not to establish ; things ought to be related as they are , since it is so much the worse for the incredulous ; for nothing more misbecomes a man , who makes it his profession to give the publick an account of Truth , than thus to profane it . In short , let there not any thing of Servility or Meanness appear in the Sentiments or Inclinations of the Historian ; for nothing creates a worse Opinion of his Fidelity . But though I do not approve the Flatterers of great men , such as Eusebius was , who will not have us see any thing but what is commendable in Constantine , who in the mean time had great defects ; yet is it my judgment , that they ought to be indulg'd in certain things . For though a man ought to say nothing but what is true , yet all truths are not to be spoken . Quintus Curtius might have forborn the Infamies he spoke of Alexander ; there are some Heads so privileg'd that they require respect ; let us therefore treat them honourably , and not be chargeable with any insolence towards them . We may relate the Vices of their persons , but let us not say any thing that may scandalize their Dignity , or abate ought that is due to their Grandeur . Tacitus says so many dirty things of Tiberius , that Boccalini cannot endure him for it . What Lampridius relates of the Emperours Heliogabalus and Caracalla , has made his History despicable ; and Platina discovers but little judgment in his way of treating the Popes . All will not be of my Opinion , but the wise will ; and it is my persuasion , that how meritorious soever it may be for a man to be sincere , he would be ridiculous if he were so in all things . But it is to be consider'd withall , that praises are never well made , because they are not made with the delicacy that is requisite ; that Commendations are made upon indifferent passages , and not upon those of which men were more likely to be sensible and mov'd thereat ; that the publick is always in an ill humour against Commendations , which it hardly ever applauds . The securest way of Commendation is , onely to make a sincere recital of commendable Actions . All know the Adventure of Aristobulus one of Alexander's Commanders , who read to him the History of the Battel which that Prince had gain'd over Porus. Alexander , who was sailing on the River Hydaspes , highly disgusted at the ●latteries of that Historian , snatch'd the History from him and flung it into the River , adding that he should be serv'd so too , for being so impudent as to commend so ill , attributing to him imaginary Exploits , as if there had not been real ones enough . This is a rough draught of the Morality which I should wish in an Historian ; or at least these should be my Principles , if I had any design to concern my self in the composing of a History , and thought my self of a Genius vigorous enough for it . In short , I would be modest after such a manner , as that there should always be an appearance of Candour and Moderation , never any vanity in my Sentiments . Upon which consideration I can hardly bear with the Extravagance of that Historian mentioned by Photius , who preparing himself to write the History of Alexander promises , that his style shall not be inferiour to the transcendent actions of his Hero. But after all , a man's edge to writing is soon taken off , when he has seen the judgment which Dionysius Halicarnassaeus passeth upon Thucydides , if he be any way stock'd with a senceful Apprehension of things : for there is no Author , though ever so judicious , but may dread the Censures of that Critick . And these are the Sentiments which I have gather'd by the reading of Historians . I am not so vain as to pretend , that I lay them down for Maxims ; they are onely Conceptions , possibly not well digested , which may become good by the good use which may be made of them . In the next place you have the Sentiments which may be had upon the most considerable Historians . XXVIII . A Judgment of Historians . HErodotus is the first that gave a rational Form to History , and it is his Elogy that he chalk'd out the way to others . His Style * is pure and elegant . † Athenaeus celebrates him for the Charms of his Discourse . His subject is of a vast extent , for it comprehends Nations , Kingdoms , Empires , the Affairs of Europe and Asia . He is not very exact in what he says , because he grasps at too much matter ; but I find him of a more than ordinary sincerity , inasmuch as he treats the Greeks and the Barbarians , those of his own Countrey and Foreiners , without any discovery of Partiality . I find also that Plutarch treats him with too much rigour , when he would have him accounted a person of an evil intention in most of his Conjectures ; but that he is not favourable to him proceeds from pure Animosity , and merely because he had ill treated his Countrey Boe●tia in his History . Thucydides is exact in his manner of writing , faithful in the things he relates , sincere , unsway'd by Interest . He has Grandeur , Excellency , and Majesty in his Style . He is always austere , but of an austerity which has nothing but what is great ; and his subject is indeed not so large , and more limited than that of Herodotus . 'T is merely out of a spirit of Partiality , that Dionysius Haelicarnassaeus prefers Herodotus before Thucydides , because the former was of Halicarnassus : but for my part , I find him the most accomplish'd of all the Gre●k Historians . Xenophon is pure in his Language , natural and pleasant in his Composition . He has a freedom and facility of Spirit , a Mind fertile and full of many learned Discoveries ; his Imagination is clear , and his Periods are of a just Intertexture . The decorum of Morality is not always exactly observ'd in his History , wherein he makes ignorant persons and Barbarians speak like Philosophers . Cicero tells us , that Scipio could not give over reading him , when he had once got him into his hands . Longinus gives him a Character of Spirit , by which he makes him a fortunate Reflecter on things . He is , all consider'd , a very accomplish'd Historian ; and 't was by the reading of his History that Scipio and Lucullus became such great Chieftains . Polybius is an excellent Discourser ; he has a fair stock of good and noble things , but that stock is not so well husbanded as that of the others before mentioned . He is however esteemable by the Idea which Brutus had of him , who in the greatest perplexity of his Affairs pass'd away whole nights in the reading and study of him . His design was not so much to write a History , as an Instruction for the good Government of a State , as he declares himself at the end of his first Book : and so he recedes somewhat from the Character of an Historian ; which obliges him at the beginning of the ninth Book to make a kind of Apology for his way of writing History . His Style is chargeable with somewhat of negligence . Dionysius Halicarnassaus in his Book of Roman Antiquities , discovers a great Sence fulness of Expression , much Science and Ratiocination , which is not common . He is exact , diligent , judicious , of greater Veracity than Livy , and very ponderous . Diodorus Siculus is a great Character , but one that comprehends too much matter , being consider'd as a Compilator out of Philistus , Timaeus , Calisthenes , Theopompus , and others . Philo and Josephus have some Touches of a very extraordinary Eloquence . They are two Jews , who were over-desirous to please and humour the Pagans , by servilely accommodating themselves to their gust and sentiments . Arrian is but a Copyer of Xenophon , and an affected Imitator of his ways . He has made seven Books of the Conquests of Alexander , as Xenophon had done of the Conquests of Cyrus . Appian sponges upon all the Greeks ; and out of that intermixture he has fram'd to himself a Style which does not resemble any of the others . Scaliger calls him , The thievish Drone of other Historians . He has taken out of Plutarch what was excellent in him ; but after all , he is a great Magazine or Stock of Matters . Dion Cassius has lost credit with many , by the extraordinary things which he relates , without any discerning Precaution ; for he is so far from keeping close to the truth , that he is at a distance from the likelyhood of it , as in that passage of the sixty sixth Book of his History , where he affirms , that Vespas●● healed a blind man by spitting upon his eyes . Procopius is exact in what he advances , because he accompanied B●lizarius in his Wars , and was a Witness of his noble Actions ; but he is somewhat too dry in his History of Persia , which has the Air rather of a Journal than of a History . He satisfied his passion in the writing of his Secret History , but he hearkned to his Moderation in suppressing it ; for after his death some took occasion to publish what he had carefully conceal'd during his life , wherein he is not wholly in excusable . Most of those who have written the Byzantine History , have either copied one out of another , as Agathias , Cedrenus , Joannes Cu●opalates , or are not very exact ; and they have nothing that approaches the Dignity , the Excellency , the Discernment , and the Fidelity of the ancient Greek● . Amongst the Latines Salust is conspicuous for the Grandeur of his Air , the Steddiness of his Thoughts , and his admirable Sence . No man has better express'd the senceful , accurate , and austere Style of Thucydides . He is sometimes harsh in his Expressions , but yet he is not faint or flat . His Conciseness takes off somewhat of his Perspicuity . He has nothing that is counterfeit in his Procedure , and he gives weight to whatever he says . His Sentiments are always excellent , though his Morality was not good ; for he perpetually rails against Vice , and always speaks well of Vertue . I find him ever dissatisfied with his Countrey , and one that is apt to think ill of his Neighbour : All else consider'd he is a very great person . Julius Caesar had the noblest talent of expressing himself of any man. The Pedants have reason to admire him , for the inimitable purity of his Style ; but I admire him much more for the exact comprehensiveness of his Sence , for no man ever writ more prudently . He is the onely Author amongst them all who does not speak any Impertinencies . He speaks of himself but as of an indifferent person , and there is nothing but what is suitable to the wise he has taken upon himself . 'T is true , he is not absolutely an Historian ; but it is true withall , that he is a great Model for the writing of History . 'T is a great repute to that admirable Author , that Henry IV , and Lewis XIV of 〈◊〉 implove● themselves in the ●ranslation of his History of the Gaulish War. Livy is the most accomplish'd of all , for he has a●l the great parts and perfe●●ions of an Historian ; the Imagination excellent , the Expression noble , the Sence exact , the Eloquence admirable . His Mind will not admit of any but great Idea's , he fills the Imagination of his Reader by what he says : 't is by that he makes his way to the Heart , and moves the very Soul. And he is the greatest Genius for History , and one of the greatest Masters of Eloquence that ever was . I do not comprehend what Asinius Pollio means , when he attributes to him a Provincial Air , and such as hath a little smack of Lombardy . His great talent lies in making what he says to be felt , by making those who ●ead him to participate of his own Sentiments , by inspiring them with his Fears and Hopes , and by communicating to them all his Passions , by the Art he has to put all the most secret re●●or●● of mens hearts into motion . Tacitus describes things after a way different from all others , but he confines himself too much to great Affairs , that he may avoid condefcending to small ones , which yet ought not to be neglected . He thinks well , but he is not always happy in expressing himself clearly . He plays too much the Philosopher . His Decisions of things are high and daring ; had he the Destinies of men in his hands , he would not speak otherwise ; and he always moralizes on the Extravagances of others , sparing none , and speaking ill of all Mankind . How many Minds has he spoil'd by the fancy of studying Politicks , which he inspires into so many people , and which is the vainest Study of all ? 'T is upon this rock that so many Spaniards , as Antonio Perez ; and so many Italians , as Ma●hiavel and Ammirato have split themselves . 'T is onely by the Lustre of his Style that this last so much pleases the higher sort of Wits , and so little those that affect what is Natural ; for by the subtilty of his Ratiocinations and Reflections he tires them . He is so obscure in his Expressions , that a man must be well exercised in his Style , ere he shall be able to unravel his thoughts . His way of Criticizing is delicate of it self , but it becomes Rustical by the desire he has to criticize upon every thing . His perpetual assuming of great Sentiments must introduce somewhat that is sublime ; 't is by this onely that he imposes , and 't is not so much to please and to instruct that he writes , as to raise Admiration . There is in him some . what that is great and extraordinary , which excuses most of his De●ects . But there are so many things to be said upon this Author , as well to his advantage as disadvantage , that there would be no end of them . 'T is a kind of humour that is of no use but onely for Ostentation ; and it contributes but little to the ordinary Conversation of men . Quintus Curtius is commendable for his sincerity ; he tells the good and ill of Alexander , without suffering himself to be preoccupated by the Merit of his Hero. If there be any exception to be made against his History , 't is onely that of its being too polite ; but yet he has excell'd in this particular , that he describes mens manners with a delightful and natural Air. This Character of Perfection , which is remarkable in these great men , was not to be found in the subsequent Ages . Justin , who becomes a Compiler , out of a desire to raise himself to an Historian , gives but a transient account of matters . He knows much ; he delivers things sencefully enough , and he has amass'd many Occurrences , which without him might have been lost . Most of the Authors of the History of Augustus have confin'd themselves to the writing of Lives , as Plutarc● an● Herodian did amongst the Gre●ks , and Suetonius and Cor●elius Nepos amongst the La●●●e , and by that means have degenerated from the Character of Historians . Who came after them were but simple Chronicle●s , Copiers , Abbreviators , and Compilers , who had no Reputation but what they deriv'd from the gross knowledge they gave of their Age , wherein the Star of History was not ●orunate , as having nothing that 's delicate or in●eed rational . Nor was there much Sincerity found amongst the modern Greeks , who must needs introduce Visions and extraordinary Adventures to satisfie their Genius . The love of Learning , which has reflourish'd in the last Ages , hath raised up , together with the revival of senceful writing , a flight of Historians , who by the Study of the Ancients , whom they took for their Models , made a greater noise than their Predecessors . Amongst those who have most signalized themselves may come in Com●es , and what is singular in him is , that he writes sencefully and is sincere . Paulus Amilius speaks purely , but he is superficial . Paulus Jovius follows onely his own Passion and his Interest . Machiavel is exact enough in his History of Florence ; in the rest his Wit has the predominancy over his Judgment . He does not absolutely do justice to Cas●ruccio Castrucci , whom he treats as an Enemy to his Countrey . Mariana in his History of Spain has not been surpass'd by any modern Author , either as to the Grandeur of his Design , or the Excellency of the Style . Buchanan is too servile an Imitator of Livy ; whatere is good in him he has filch'd from the Ancients . He writes sencefully , but has no great Elevation in his Sentiments . His long Citations of the third Book do not generally please , no more than do the Particularities he brings in , in the second Book of the notion of the Country whereof he speaks . The Germans have vast Projects upon their History ; but nothing reduc'd within the natural order , which an exact Design would require . We find is most of the Spaniards a Spirit of Partiality for their Countrey , which renders them very suspicious . The Italians are well furnish'd with particular Histories of the different States whereof Italy consists ; but they have no complete Body of History . There begin now to appear amongst us some rays of hope , that some accomplish'd Historian will rise up , by the Approbation which the Publick gives those who write at this time . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A58058-e1170 Pulchrum imprimis videtur , non pati occidere , quibus aeternitas debeatur . Plin. l. 5. epist . — genus hoc scribendi incitatum atque elatum esse debere , quis ignorat ? Cic. ad fam . epist . 7. l. 6. Addidit Historiae majorem sonum ▪ vocis Antipater , caeteri non ●xornatores rerum , sed tantummodo narratores fuerunt . Cic. de Orat. l. 2. Magna , non nimia ; sublimis , non abrupta ; fortis , non temeraria ; severa , non tristis ; gravis , non tarda ; laet● , non luxuriosa ; plena , non tumida . Fab. l. 12. c. 10. Delectus verborum habendus , & pondera singulorum examinanda . Fab. l. 10. c. 3. Lucian . de conscrib . Hist . Historico sermoni decus conciliet perspicuitas proprietásque verborum . Ben. de Hist . l. 1. Quid tam necessarium quàm rect ▪ locutio ? Fab. l. 1. Curae magna sentiendi & loquendi , sed dissimulatio curae praecipua . L. 9. c. 4. Nihil est in Historia pura & illustri brevitate dulcius . Cic. ad Brut. In sententia nihil absurdum aut alienum , aut subinsulsum ; in verbis nihil inquinaetum , abjectum , non aptum , durum , longè petitum . Cic. de opt . gen . Orat. Non debet quisquam , ubi maxima rerum momentae versantur , solicitus esse de verbis . Fab. l. 8. c. 3. Vt monilibus & margaritis , quae sunt ornaementa foeminarum , deformantur viri ; nec habitus triumphalis , quo nihil augustius , foeminas decet . Fab. l. 11. c. 1. Ornatus omnis , non tam suâ , quàns rei cui adhibetur , condition● constat . Ibid. Si oratio perderet gratiam simplicis & inaffectati coloris , perderet & fidem . Fab. l. 9. c. 4. In judicio de Thucyd. Homerus brevem quidem , cum animi jucunditate propriam , carentem superfluis , eloquentiam Menelao dedit , quae sunt virtutes generis primi . Fab. l. 12. c. 10. Exponere simpliciter & sine ulla exorn●atione . Cic. de Invent. l. 2 Nor. dicere ornatiùs quàm simplex ratio veritatis ferat . Cic. de Orat. l. 1. Xenophon●is illam jucunditatem inaffectatam , quam nullae affectat●● consequi possit , ut ipsae sermonem Gratia finicissè videantur . Fa● . l. 10. c. 1. Plutarch . Herm. de Idaeis l. 2. In rebus magnis memoriâque dignis historiam versari . Cic. de Orat. l. 2. Historiam assuetam discurrere per negotiorum celsitudines , non humilium minutias indagare causarum . — Ammian . Marcell . l. 26. Equidem non affirmare sustineo , de quibus dubito , nec subducere quae accepi . Curt. l. 9 Apud Herodotum sunt innumerabiles fabulae . De Leg. l. 1. Marcellin . in vita Thucyd . Salustius maria transgressus dicitur , ut oculis suis crederet de conditionibus locorum . Petrar . In Praefat. Hist . Hist . l. 12. Raggua di Parnas . Tiberium ascitum , quod ejus arrogantiam introspexerit , & comparatione deterrimâ sibi gloriam quaesivisse . Tac. Ann. l. 1. Dolabella in absurdam adulationem progressus . Tac. Ann. l. 3. Suspectabat Sullam , socors ejus ingenium callidúmque simulatorem interpretando . Ann. l. 13. Temporibus Neronis sapientia pro inertia fuit . Id. Alias in Historia leges observandas , alias in Poemate ; illa ad veritatem quaeque , in hoc ad delectationem referri pleraque . Cic. de Leg. 1. Graecis historiis plerunque poeticae similis est licentia . Fab. l. 2. c. 4. — & quicquid Graecia mendax Peccat in historia — Juv. Sat. 10. Quidam incredibilium relatu commendationem parant , & lectorem aliud acturum , si per quotidiana duceretur , miraculo excitant , & op●● suum fieri popul are non putant , nisi mendacio asperserint . Senec. Qu. Natur. l. 7. Lucian . de Hist . conscrib . Vtilitatem juvandi praetulerunt gratiae placendi . Plin. praef . hist . nat . de Thucyd. & aliis hist . Agrippina pavor & consternatio mentis emicu●t , quamvis vultu premeretur . Octavia , quamvis rudibus annis , dolorem , charitatem , affectus omnes abscondere didicerat . Ita post breve silentium repetita convivi● 〈◊〉 . Tac. ann . l. 13. Rerum gestarum pronunciator sincerus Thucydidides . Cic. de clar . orat . In judicio de Thucyd . Scribe secur●● , dicas quod velis , babiturus mendaciorum comites quos Historicae eloquenti●e miramur autores . Vopisc . praef . hist . * Apud Flori● . S● . Neminem scriptorum , quantum ad historiam pertinet , non aliquid esse mentitum . Vopisc . ib. Verum ipsum in scribent is sincerita●e candoreque elucet . Melch. Can. in loc . Theol. l. 11. c. 6. De conscrib . hist . Quanquam vincta sit , soluta videri debet oratio . Fab. l. 9. c. 4. Historia non tam finitos numeros , quàm orbem contextúmque desiderat . Ibid. In Herodoto omnia leniter fluunt ; tum ipsa dialectus habet jucunditatem . Ibid. Thucydides praefractior , ita nec rotundus , in eo orbem orationis desidero . Cic. in Bruto . Obscurus est , quia pressus . Ibid. Tribus libris de bello civili Caesari falsò asscriptis nihil durius , nec candori Caesariano minus conveniens . Florus Sabin . in calum . Ling. Lat. Genus orationis fusum , & cum lenitate quadam aequabili pros●uens , sine judiciali asperit●●e , & sententiarum forinsium deu●eis prosequendum . Cic. de orat . l. 2. Salustius rerum Romanarum ●lorentissimus autor . Tac. hist . l. 3. Salustio vigente amputatae sententiae , & obscura brevitas , fu●re pro cultu . Sen. l. 11. 〈◊〉 . 114. Verba excerpsit Salustius ex originibus Catonis . Suet. in Aug. Salustius scriptor seriae & severae orationis . A. Gel. l. 17. c. 18. Ib. l. 9. De Id●is ▪ l. 1. c. 5. & l. 2. de Invent . Austerus Graecâ consuetudine . Cornel. Front. de different . vocum . Artis severae si quis amat effectus , mentémque magnis applicat , priùs more f●●gali●●tis lege polleat exactâ . Petr. Si juvenes verba atroci stylo effoderent , jam illa grandis oratio haberet majestatis su● pondus . Ibid. Histori ca locutio , ubi munditiem retinuerit , majora ornamenta non requirat ; simplex , pura , naturalis ●it , nec Atticam sic●itatem referre possit . Beni , 〈◊〉 hist . l. 1. Historia narratio rei gestae , per quam ea quae facta sunt dignoscuntur . Isidor . l. 1. Orig. Expositio praeteritorum temporum . Fab. l. 4. c. ● . Custodia fidelis rerum gestarum . Tit. Liv. l. 6. Dare orationi varios vultus ; gaudent enim res varietate . Fab. l. 9. c. 2. Circumcisa expositio rei quae supervacuis caret . Fab. l. 4. c. 1. Densus , brevis , semper instans sibi concitatis affectibus Thucydides . Fab. l. 10. c. 1. Thucydides verbis aptus & pressus . Cic. de Orat. l. 2. Immortalem illam Salustii velocitatem consecutus Livius . Fab. l. 10. c. 1. ●lla Salustiana bre●itas , quâ nihil apud aures eruditas per●ectius esse potest , captanda . Ibid. Livius in narrando mirae ●uc●nditatis ▪ clarissiimique candoris , ita ducuntur omnia , tum rebus 〈◊〉 personis accommodat● . Ibid. Thucydides creber rerum frequentiâ . Cic. de Orat. l. 2. Tract . de Judic . Thucyd. Rerum ratio ordinem temporum desiderat . Cic. de Orat. l. 2. In rebus magnis memoriâque dignis , consilia primùm , deinde acta , postea eventus expectantur ▪ Ibid. Cap. 18. Xenophontis fluens , & sine salebris oratio . Cic. In cons●r . hist . Annal. l. 11. Rerum ratio vult , ut quoniam in rebus magnis consilia primùm , deinde acta , postea eventus expectantur , in rebus gestis declarari , non solùm quid actum aut dictum si● , sed quomodo ; & cùm de eventu dicatur , ut causae explicentur omnes , &c. De Orat. l. 2. Haud facile animus verum provides , ubi officiunt odium , amicitia , ira , atque misericordia . Caesar . apud Salust . in Catil . In Herod . Excerpt . const . ex Diodoro . Luc. de cons●ri● . ●ist . Caesar scripsit Commentarios qui nudi sunt , absque omni ornatu orationis . Cic. in Brut. Epist . ad Pomp. & de virt . Serm. Affectus eos praecipue qui dulciores sunt , nemo historicorum Livio m●gìs commendavit . Fab. l. 10. c. 1. Sal. in bel . Jugurth . De hist . conscrib . In sermonibus effingendis Herodotus , Thucydides , Xenophon , Salustius , 〈◊〉 vadentur : ea causa est cur Caesar Commentarios scripsit , ut id omitteret , in quo alii laborârunt . Bisciol . l. 7. hor. subcaes . Trogas repre●endit in Livio & Salustio , quòd conciones & orationes operi suo inserendo , historiae modum excesserint . Justin . l. 38. Livius , Thucydides , interserunt conciones , quae nunquam ab iis , quibus sunt attributae , cogni●e fuerunt . Scal. Poet. l. 1. Ben. l. 2. de hist . De Thucydide orationes , quas interposuit , laudare soleo ; sed imitari neque possim si ve●im , neque velim ss possim . Cic. de clar . Orat. Explicentur hominum ipsorum non solùm res gest●● , sed vita ac natura . Cic. l. 2. de Orat. Lib. 21. Lucretiam no●te serâ non in convivio luxúque , sed dedi●am lanae inter ancillas sedentem inveniunt . Annal. l. 1. Oppress●● in ●●lclin●is par●sitos suos violis & floribus , sic ut animam ●l●qui effaveri●t . Lampr. in Heliog . Deos esse non negligere humana ; superbi● & crudelitati , 〈…〉 . Annal. l. 3. Curandum nè sententiae emineant extra corpus oration●● expresse . Petr. Polybius & Salustius ita peccârunt , ut nullam unquam veniam impetrârint , dum digrediuntur , &c. Ex Sebast . Mac. Nihil minùs quasitum à principio huj●● operis , quàm ut plus justo ab rerum ordine decli●arem , varietatibúsque distinguer●o opera , legentibus veluti diverticula qua●rerem . Lib. 9. Annal . Luc. de conscrib . hist . Vt qua●rere libea● qui eventus Romanis rebus , si cum Alexandro fore● bellatum , futurus fuerit . Annal. l. 9. Thucydides omnes dicendi ar●ificio vincit . Cic. de Orat. l. 2. Tito Livio mirae facundiae viro . Fab. l. 8. c. 1. Livium suprà quam dici potest eloquentem . Fab. l. 10. c. 1. Livius eloquentiae & fidei praeclarus imprimis . Tacit . Annal. l. 4. Salustius in bello Jugurthino & Catilinario , nihil ad historiam pertinentibus principiis usus est . Fab. l. 10. c. 8. Habeo volumen Prooemiorum ; ex eo eligere soleo , cum aliquod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 institu● . Ad Attic. l. 16. ep . 6. Sen●●●s quam vile corpus s●●●is qui magn●m gloriam v●dent . 〈◊〉 . Liv. Ann. l. ● . 〈◊〉 Romani suum habent Anni●alem . Annal . l. 27. Arduum videtur res g●stas scribere , quòd facta dictis exaequenda sunt . Salust . Prooem . Bell. Ca●i●in . Magnum quid Historiam rectè scribere , & summi Oratoris proprium . De Orat. l. 2. Nequa suspicio grat●● sit , ●equa simultat● . Cic. de Orat. Marcellin . 〈…〉 . Josephus non tam stud●bat vera scribere , quàm credibi●i● : 〈◊〉 c●usa fuit , cur praeterierit miracula , quòd apud infideles 〈…〉 ●rant habitura ; & narravit fabul●s , quas pu●●vit iis magis probabiles futuras . Leo Cast . disp . de transl . sacr . leg . c. 36. Lucian . de conscrib . hist . * Dul●●● , candid●● . ●usus Herodotus . Fab. l. 10. c. 1. † Lib. 3. In Herodoto . Laudatur ab omnibus act rerum explicator sinceras & gravis — Hujus nemo neque verborum neque sententiarum gravitatem imitatur . Cic. de opt . orat . Alienorum laborum fucus . Animad . ad Euseb . Subtilissimus brevitatis artifex Salustius , proprietatum in verbis re●inentissimus . Gellius . Salustius homo nequam , sed gravissimus alienae luxuri●e objurgator . Lact. de falsa relig . l. 2. In T●o Livio putat inesse Pollio quandam Patavi●ita●em . F●b . l. 8. c. 1. Evenit nonnunquam ut aliquid grande ●uvenlat , qui semper quari● quod nimium est . Fab. ● . ● . c. 13.