Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

There is no state of public affairs, to which the operation of the paffions, the virtues, the vices, the calls of public or private intereft, and the love of glory, will not apply; and into fome one of these may be fairly refolved the conduct of monarchs, ftatefimen, and warriors.

CHAPTER

CHAPTER II.

The comparative merits of ancient and modern Hiftorians.

As there is no fpecies of compofition, to which the faculties of the mind have been more ftrenuously or more laudably directed in various ages of the world, and from which more useful information may be derived, than hiftory; it is doubtlefs very interesting to confider, and to determine the comparative merits of ancient and modern hiftorians. With regard to the nature of their fubjects, as the pursuits of mankind are now fo much diversified, modern writers have great advantages over the ancient. The prevailing employment of ancient times was war; the pages of the hiftorians are therefore filled with battles and fieges, which, from the time of Homer to the revival of learning in Europe, weary our attention by uniformity of fubject. A more particular regard has in fubfequent ages been paid to religion, government, laws, cuftoms, and commerce; and every circumftance relative to the conduct of individuals, tending in any degree to the developement of the genius of a people, has been fcrutinized and difcuffed. It is not ufual for modern hiftorians to introduce thofe formal harangues of generals in the field, or of statesmen in the fenate, which conftitute fo large a fhare of the works of antiquity.

VOL. I.

R

antiquity. However acute they may be in point of argument, appropriate as to character, or dramatic as to effect, they contradict our notions of probability, and only ferve, by the interpofition of the fuppofed fpeaker, to difplay the eloquence of the writer. The fpeeches of Cæfar in his Commentaries, and those which Dion Caffius compofed for him, are very different in circumftances and arguments. Of all that the ancients have left us, none approach fo nearly to nature and probability as thofe of the Old Teftament and Herodotus. The moderns have a wider range of political views; and, from their more extenfive knowledge of various countries, they are better acquainted with the nature of government, and the comparative state of man.

Ever fince the establishment of the regular conveyance of letters by pofts, channels of eafy and expeditious information have been opened; and the intercourfe between one country and another has been more frequent, in confequence of travelling being rendered fafe, commodious, and expeditious. The wide diffufion of literature likewife, extending more and more fince the revival of learning, has multiplied authentic documents; valuable papers are often depofited in public li braries, where they are acceffible to the curious and inquifitive; or, if preferved by individuals, they are foon difcovered by the active fpirit of inquiry, and communicated to the world.

An

An abundance of materials for Hiftory, however, is not the only requifite to inform the mind, or fecure the approbation of the reader. One great fault of the modern hiftorians is prolixity. The volumes of Thuanus, Rapin, and Carte, are calculated to fatigue the moft vigilant eye, and opprefs the powers of the moft retentive memory. Such writers exhaust attention by magnifying trifles into importance, or diffufe a coldnefs over their works by a minute detail of uninterefting affairs, or unimportant remarks. Hence the reader, unless he wishes to confult the author upon fome particular fubject, turns over many a page with indifference, and finally quits the hiftorian with disguft.

The contraft with the ancients in this refpect is remarkably striking. The ancients draw characters, and defcribe events, with a few mafterly ttrokes, and paint in fuch glowing colours of language, that they seize the attention at once, and captivate the mind. Their concifenefs gives them great advantage, and tends to preferve the intereft excited by their defcriptions. All is animated and forcible; the representations are taken immediately from recent facts; the portraits of human nature are drawn from the life; and the bufy fcene of action, the tumults of war, and the reverfes of fortune, are placed immediately before our eyes. They write as if they came immediately from the field of battle, or the deliberations of the council. The fituation of many of the ancients was particularly favourable to this lively species of compofition; for Thucydides,

R 2

dides, Xenophon, Polybius, Cæfar, Salluft, and Tacitus, were actors in many of the important fcenes they portray, and wrote under the influence of the deepeft impreffions of reality and experience *.

If however we read with a view to our immediate improvement, the modern hiftorian claims our more particular regard. He defcribes actions and events, which have a neceffary connexion with the times in which we live, and which have an immediate influence upon the government and conftitution of our country. The ancients may astonish us by relating thofe fudden revolutions, which transferred empires by a fingle battle: but the moderns difplay more fully the caufes and confequences of great events, and edify us by examples more con

From various proofs of the truth of this obfervation which occur to my recollection, I felect the following defcription of the approach of the Persian army to engage that of Cyrus the younger, in which Xenophon himself ferved, and probably was“ a fpectator of the circumftances he mentions:

[ocr errors]

Και ηδη τε ην μεσον ήμερας, και ουπω καταφανεις ησαν οι πολεμιοι· ήνικα δε δειλη εγενετο, εφανη κονιορτος ώσπερ κεφαλη λευκή, χρόνῳ δε συχνῳ ύτερον, ωσπες μελαινια τις εν τω πεδίῳ επι πολυ οτε δε Εγγύτερον εγίγνοντο, ταχα δε και χαλκος τις ήστραπτε, και αι λιγγαι και αι ταξεις καταφάνεις εγίγνοντο. Xenoph. Anabafis, p. 70, Edit. Zeunii.

Compare this with the defcriptions of thofe modern historians, who pafs their lives in their libraries, and the difference will immediately appear. One of the ancients I have mentioned might addrefs fuch perfons in the words of Marius: "Quæ illi audire et legere folent, eorum partem vidi egomet, alia geffi; quæ illi literis, ego militando didici; nunc vos exiftimate facta an dicta pluris fint."

« ElőzőTovább »