which may be understood to apply to my whole history." 1 Thucydides, on the other hand, presented the first Thucydides. great example of careful sifting of evidence and with a plan which is purposely confined to the political and military history of the Peloponnesian war. He took part in person during a portion of the war and afterward visited the principal scenes of conflict, but, more than this, he sought carefully for information from important personages. "In the history of the war, I have followed neither the first report nor my own opinion, but rather I have given those writings which I have either seen myself or have learned of others with the greatest diligence. To find the truth caused me much trouble, for the witnesses of the various events were not agreed in their accounts, but both sides were affected by partisanship and failure of memory." 2 In explaining the current of events Thucydides from time to time summarizes the earlier history of the states participating in this conflict and in so doing displays much acumen in distinguishing between the mythical and historical accounts of their origin. He is not always successful in his aim, but he is distinctly a truth-seeker. He attempts to be also a teacher and assumes to tell both "what has happened and will hereafter happen again according to human nature.' 13 1 Herodotus, Book VII, Ch. 152. 2 Thucyd., I, 22. 3 Thucyd., I, 22. Military His tory. Thus in the fifth century before Christ there was set before the world a high example of research and presentation, and with it a theory of the object and content of history. Ever since that time men have been trying to improve this definition, yet they have agreed in one thing: the historian must seek the truth. Controversy over the definition has concerned the kinds of facts wanted, and as to whether the historian should at the same time be a prophet and a moral teacher. During a very long period the works which could be dignified with the name of histories concerned themselves chiefly with statecraft, wars, battles, or diplomacy. These were the conspicuous features in a nation's life and were regarded as the only essentials both by the writers and by the public. There were natural reasons for this conception of history. In the term "government" are included a great number of important activities of man. In one form or another, government is continuous and provides a groundplan upon which to show the evolution of a people. At critical junctures the fate of nations has hung upon battles. During certain periods also monarchies have been so absolute that the welfare of the people depended on the personal wishes or even whims of kings, consequently dynastic history and even court intrigues were decidedly contributary to national history in its larger aspects. Modern Social It is a discovery of modern times that there is History. more in the life and development of a nation than these externals. In the first place modern nations have become more democratic. The people share in that government which was once more exclusively in the hands of rulers, and it is now natural to inquire into the condition of the peoples of past ages and to trace their development to present times. Moreover, it has gradually dawned upon the world that the economic condition of a nation has a great part in its politics, whatever its form of government may be. Social, intellectual, and moral conditions have to be taken into consideration even in the history of politics, and much more so if a complete picture of a nation's development is to be given. Consequently, the scope of historical research is much wider and the kinds of facts wanted are more numerous than were required even in the centurybefore this. To cite English examples, Gibbon wrote his chapters on the social conditions of the early middle ages apart from the narrative. Sharon Turner at the beginning of the nineteenth century, after giving the early political history of the Anglo-Saxons, describes their government and customs, but without showing the intimate connection of many of them with the development of law and government. Macaulay, though not the first to complain, revolted Macaulay. from the exclusively political and dynastic history. He believed these to be essential parts of history, but that we should view also the nation. The ideal historian, be said, "considers no anecdote, no peculiarity of manner, no familiar saying, as too insignificant for his notice, which is not too insignificant to illustrate the operation of laws, of religion and of education, and to mark the progress of the human mind." J. R. Green. Macaulay used his social facts too much as external literary ornament, but his doctrine led in the modern direction, the best popular exponent of which in English history was John Richard Green. In the preface to his Short History of the English People, Mr. Green said: At the risk of sacrificing much that was interesting and attractive in itself and which the constant usage of our historians has made familiar to English readers, I have preferred to pass lightly and briefly over the details of foreign wars and diplomacies, the personal adventures of kings and nobles, the pomp of courts, or the intrigues of favorites, and to dwell at length on the incidents of that constitutional, intellectual, and social advance in which we read the history of the nation itself. It is with this purpose that I have devoted more space to Chaucer than to Cressy, to Caxton than to the petty strife of Yorkish and Lancastrian, to the Poor Law of Elizabeth than to her victory at Cadiz, to the Methodist revival than to the escape of the Young Pretender." The works of these popular writers were the surface indications of the changes which had taken place in their day. Mr. Green's most scientific researches are found in his books on the Anglo-Saxon period, the Conquest of England and the Making of England, yet his history is an example of the tendency now everywhere evident. The life of the nation in all important directions must be displayed, and consequently the content of the word history obtains a new and extended meaning. As already intimated, there has been no agreement in the wording of a definition. Mr. Freeman said,1 Freeman. An analysis of these controversies will show that they are derived from difference of view as to the object of writing history. As we have noted before, the primitive object was to entertain. From Thucydides onward there have been historians whose avowed aim has been to instruct and to guide the conduct of political life. Dionysius, following Thucydides, was of opinion that history is philosophy Political Histeaching by examples." Machiavelli said: "The wise torians. men say with reason that to foresee the future it is necessary to consult the past, because the events of this world have in all times well defined relations with those of times which have preceded. Produced by men who are and always have been animated by the same passions they ought necessarily to have the same results." In our day Herbert Spencer complained that histories were ordinarily so full of biographies and accidental matter that they gave no 1 Methods of Historical Study, p. 116. 2 Ars Rhet., XI, 2. (Authorship in doubt.) |