Licenced,  
October the 9 th'. 1688. Rob. Midgley.   

THE Modest Critic: OR REMARKS Upon the most Eminent HISTORIANS, Ancient and Modern. With Useful Cautions and Instructions, as well for Writing, as Reading HISTORY: Wherein the Sense of the Greatest Men on this Subject is faithfully Abridged.  
By one of the Society of the Port-Royal.  
LONDON: Printed for John Barnes, at the Sign of the Bear and Ragged Staff, in Green-Street, near Leicester-Square. 1689.   

THE PREFACE.  
IT is as unusual for a Book to be Published without a Preface, as for a man to go abroad without a Cravat: Something therefore must be said, for Fashion sake: But, because I am no way addicted to Garb and Dress, what I say shall be plain and short.  
I have lived long enough in the World, to know, that a man who ventures to make any Work of his own Public, puts himself into Extreme Danger of being attacked on every side, and by all sort of People, as well Learned as Ignorant; and these are the worst of the two; for a reasonable man may be satisfied with Reason, when a Fool will never be convinced of his Error. This has always made me unwilling to expose any thing of my own: But, having received, in the perusing of this little Book, both Pleasure and Profit, I thought it would be but matter of Gratitude in me, to communicate it to the Public.  
The Press having of late been prostituted to the Dull and Impertinent, it will be no great Credit for me to run in the Herd, much less to bring up the Rear of them that are in Print.  
It is not therefore from Vanity, or the fond imagination of raising a Character, that I send this little Treatise abroad; but merely, that others, who have the same Notions with myself, may receive from it the same satisfaction that I have done.  
It is not now, as heretofore, when he that could write, or read his Name, was thought therefore fit to be a Parish-Clerk: Fortunatus, and Valentine and Orson, etc. are no longer the Entertainment of Men. Nay, so ripe and pretending is the present Age, that Women pass their time in the best and solidest Histories.  
But tho' many read, yet all do not read with Judgement and Observation. Therefore they may learn in reading this Book, instructions how to read and write too.  
Now to do myself some Right, I must ingeniously confess, there are some Passages, about which I am not fully satisfied, as about the Spartiates and Lacedæmonians, tho' the Author has Polybius on his side.  
He has not done justice to the World, in not mentioning some late Historians; I mean, amongst the rest, Thuanus and Sleidan, who deserve not to be passed over in silence.  
It is not to be wondered, that one of the Romish Church should so sharply censure the incomparable Fra Paolo, whose Judgement and Learning carried him beyond their Arguments, and whose Honesty was above their Calumny: But the History of the Council of Trent is sufficient to maintain that Author's Credit against all their Suggestions.  
As for the King of France's busying himself about the Translating of Caesar's Commentaries, I must beg the Author's Pardon, if I cannot believe him, That Monarch having business enough of his own, without meddling with Books. And, I am confident, had He never done more than Translating of that Book, He had never had the Name of Lovis Le Grand.  
But, for these, and other such Faults, I will leave every Reader to take the same Liberty towards him that he has taken with others. To say the Truth, He that sets up for a Critic, offers a Challenge to the whole World: Therefore, not to be remarked upon, is the last Affront that can be put upon him. But I forget the Complaint I made of other People's scribbling, while I thus far continue my own. Reader, accept this with the same Mind that I offer it; And so Farewell.   

TO THE READER.  
I Have neither so good an Opinion of this Work, nor of myself, as to prefix my Name to it; it being but a rough Draught of the Manner of writing History; and that made upon a cursory reading of History. A Natural Diffidence I have of myself, makes me fear, lest Impatience or Precipitation has snatched out of my hands what could never remain too long with me, to render itself any way supportable. But that I may not disgust the Public too much, by representing the Present I here make it, too mean and cheap: I shall ingenuously confess, That this Work is a kind of Abridgement of what has been written on that Subject, by the greatest Men of the first, and of the late Ages; That it is an Extract of what is most reasonable in Dionysius Halycarnassaeus, in his Answer to Pompey, who asked his Opinion of the Greek Historians, and his Censure upon their different Characters: That it is a Copy of what Lucian has thought most judicious in that Admirable Treatise he made of the Manner of Writing HISTORY. In fine, That those Opinions I give in this Discourse, are not so much my own, as those of Francisco Patrici, in his Dialogues of Gyrolamo Marucci, Agostino Mascardi, of Paolo Beni, Lewis Cabrera, and others, Spanish and Italian Moderns, which have handled this Argument.  
But, as perhaps, I have spoiled their Thoughts by adding my own, I declare, That I do not make it a Point of Honour to myself, to persuade my Readers of it. 
a Cum judicium meum ostendere, suam legentibus relinquam. Fab. l. 9 c. 4.  I do not impose Laws upon them, having neither Jurisdiction nor Authority to do so; they are, at the most, but Advices, which every one may follow at his own Discretion: But, being far from pretending to instruct any body, by a Title which shall seem vain to Modest Persons, I would willingly have all the World believe, that I am proud of receiving any Instruction from others. For, if I have not Wit and Learning sufficient, to be as Exact as so Important a Design requires; I have Judgement enough to be fearful of myself. But, that I may not take a False Modesty upon me, by suppressing my Name, I confess, that, in a manner, I conceal myself out of Pride: For I am too proud to show myself, being sensible, that in an Age so Learned, and so full of Critics, as ours is, a Man humbles himself, whenever he takes up the Name of an Author. In effect, their Rigour is so great, that no Merit, how well soever established, can escape them; And it looks like a kind of Presumption in a Man, to commit himself openly to the Judgement of the Public, which daily becomes more rigorous; and in an Age where Censure spares no body. It is also true, That there is so great a Wisdom in not endeavouring to seem capable; and that there is so much good Sense showed in being Modest, that I could willingly have chosen to add, in those places where I give my Opinion, the May be of Aristotle, and the It seems of Tully, to be less Affirmative, and to speak my Mind with more Modesty, could that have suited with the Simplicity I use to explain myself. For, if a Man has any Measure of Sense, he will hardly give his Opinion, in an Age so overrun with Positiveness in all things, as ours is; and then, Woe be to him that offers to decide.  
Therefore this Discourse upon History is no ways like that of Lucian's, who praises good Writers only to detract from those that writ ill; hiding, under the Approbation which he gives to Good Authors, a cunning satire, the more to involve the bad ones: That is not my Design, having no Grudge against any Man. I pretend only to open sensible Author's Eyes, and show them, that they ought to tremble when they go about writing History, which is so hard a thing to do well; and that the Judgement of Dionysius Halycarnassaeus alone upon Thucydides, aught to cast a Terror in all historians Minds that are wise. In fine, to speak one Word about this Work, after I have spoken of the Workman, I declare, that good sense alone reigns more in those Instructions, than the Finesses of Policy; which is the thing curious men look most for in History, Policy being the Vainest of all Sciences; and that, good Sense, is the most universal and solid ground thereof. The Truth is, That I do not pretend to say all upon that matter, which no man can do: I shall, perhaps, say more another time, if this be kindly received.   

THE Modest Critic: OR, REMARKS Upon the most Eminent HISTORIANS.  


The Design of the Author.  THE Palate of this Age, it seems, grows very exquisite; for in all things, for the most part, we attain a good measure of Sense: We esteem that which is Real and Solid, and we can hardly now endure any thing that is false or frivolous. This is the Sentiment of all reasonable People, who make the soundest part of them that pretend to judge, though it be perhaps the lesser in number.  
But nothing shows that ripeness of Judgement better than the Disgust People have now for Romances, and any other thing that looks like them; so that this love of Truth and Reason, being a disposition to love History, let us make use of so favourable a Conjuncture, to serve the Public according to their Genius; let us bestow our pains in those things that can make us perfect in that Art; and comprehending the excellence thereof, let us make ourselves acquainted with those things that are needful to attain it: For, what Spirit is not requisite for it? and what can we imagine finer than 
b Pulchrum imprimis videtur, non pati occidere, quibus aeternitas debeatur. Pl. l. 5. Epist.  History, which can do justice to Virtue, by perpetuating the Memory of Noble Actions? This is, in my mind, what can contribute to the Perfection, of which this kind of writing is capable, which will carry it above all other (if that love for Sense which establishes itself can but continue) in despite of the variety of tastes, which fancy and vanity endeavour from time to time to introduce through false Ideas of fine wit.   

I. How to write History.  
There is nothing harder than to say very precisely 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 that which is most conformable to those People's taste to whom he writes. But, is this enough to please Posterity? It is a Judge strict, severe, incorruptible, who gives its approbation to true Merit only: let us see then what we shall do to obtain its suffrage. When a man writes Nobly, Sensibly, Purely, Naturally; he pleases always in what Language soever he writes. Those are the universal Principles, which alone can fit every People's palate: for there are no other general Rules in the World, than those of Reason and good Sense. That is the reason why Thucydides, Xenophon, Sallust, Caesar, Livy, Buchanan, Mariana, and others like them, have always pleased, though they wrote in Ages, and to Nations of a different genius: a man is sure to please, if he writes as they have writ. For, what Grandeur, what Judgement, what Clearness, and above all, what Integrity shines in those great men's Works!   

II. What to write nobly is.  
You must then resolve to write nobly, if you design to write History. For, 
c Genus hoc scribendi incitatum atque elatum esle debere quis ignorat? Cic. ad Famil. Epist. 7. l. 6.  from the moment you speak to all the world, and to all Ages, you are endued with a Character which gives you authority to raise your voice, because than you speak to Kings, Princes, and to the Grandees of all Countries and of all Ages; and you become, in some manner, the Master and Instructor of all mankind: 
d Addidit Historiae majorem sonum vocis Antipater, caeteri non exornatores rerum, sed tantummodo narratores suerunt. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  Nothing, then, is more essential to History, than to adorn your discourse with a lofty strain, to speak as you ought. As an Historian quits the low and common Language, that so by the dignity of his Expression, he may answer the merit of those things he has to say: let him use himself to think nobly, in every thing that passes through his mind: let him study to give good weight to his thoughts, and strength to his discourse, by seeking with care all that can elevate and ennoble it, to give a mark of greatness to all that he says. The Patterns of that kind of writing, are, amongst the Greeks Thucydides, and Livy amongst the Latins. They are almost the only ones that have been able to keep up with an equal force and vigour, that greatness of Style, without sinking in Mediocrity and Lowness: and in that they have had but few Imitators. Herodotus has, by imitating Homer too much, tried to raise his Style in places that required elevation, as Longinus has taken notice. Tacitus, who for the most part is only great, because he is short, is not a very good model to propose, for the greatness of his Style is not natural at all. In short, you must take great care to distinguish a false greatness from the true one. For, it is not in high terms, nor in lofty expressions; it is not in the puffing of words, nor haughtiness of the Discourse, that that nobleness of Style which History requires, aught to consist; in which Ammianus Marcellinus, Lampridius, and most part of the Historians of the low Empire have been deceived: It is in a high, but modest Expression; in a Discourse capable of sustaining the greatest matters and raising the least; It is, in fine, in that temper of greatness, which Quintilian attributes to true Eloquence. It is not enough for you to have Wit, 
e Magna, non nimia, sublimis non abrupta, sortis non temeraria, severa non tristis, gravis non tarda, lata non luxuriosa, plena non tumida. Fab. l. 12. c. 10.  you must have a genius to write so, and to elevate what you say, by the choice of Expressions, and by the greatness of your thoughts. That gift is so rare, that if you separate from the number of Historians, those that have not writ so, there will be but few true ones that will remain.   

III. To write sensibly.  
To write sensibly, is to hit directly the thing you aim at, in what kind soever you writ, without going from your Subject, or losing time by the way: It is to express things with a kind of Wisdom and Modesty, not abandoning yourself to the heat of your Imagination, nor to the quickness of your Apprehension; that is, when you can suppress that which is superfluous in the Expression, as those Adverbs and Epithets which diminish things, as they express them; to let no idle, insipid, and useless thing remain in it: to cut off handsomely, what is not fit to be said, how fine soever it appears; to allow ever less to fineness, than to Solidity; not to show Passion or Heat, where only cold Blood and Seriousness are required; to examine all your thoughts, 
f Delectus Verborum habendus, & pondera singulorum examinanda. Fab. l. 10. c. 3.  and measure all your words, with that exactness of sense, and that exquisite Judgement, which nothing escapes, but what is exact and judicious. It is, in fine, to have Strength enough to resist the temptation Men have naturally to show their Wit; 
g Luc. de conser. Hist.  as that Impertinent Historian, who in the Parthian overthrow by the Emperor Severus, makes Osroes fly in a Den shaded with Laurels and Myrtle, wherein he makes himself ridiculous, thinking to be more agreeable, which is the most slippery step an Author can fall upon. And that Spirit endued with Sense, that wise Character which History requires, is a kind of attendance upon ones self, which allows itself no manner of Exaggeration, and which takes endless Precautions against those bold Imaginations; which those, whose Spirits are too quick or too fertile, are subject to; that they may say few things in few words, as Sallust does, who holds Councils, gives Battles, takes Towns, conquers Kingdoms, with a compendiousness of Discourse, and an overflowing Expression, which is understood at half Sentences. Tacitus has all the Sense necessary to be short; but he has not enough on't to be understood. The Readers grow sometimes impatient in that Author's Precipitations, which loses much of his agreeableness, and trying to compact in too few words, that which should have been more extended, falls into Obscurity. The desire he has of being too short, anger's me, because of the small Instructions he gives me in things, which he does not unfold enough. Polybius and Appian sometimes say too much; there is a sort of judicious silence, which makes one comprehend often the greatness of the things one speaks of, better than any words, when they are too weak. It is a Masterpiece for one to suppress those things he cannot well say; and the great Discretion in an Historian, is to make a distinction of what must be extended, or made short, that so he may give to every thing the just measure it ought to have, to make it acceptable. For Livy, though very large, is not tedious, because he is a Man of Judgement, even in his very Prolixity. But Thucydides, by sticking too close to Sense, sometimes falls in a kind of hardness and dryness, which one would hardly forgive him, was it not for the pureness and nobleness of his Style. So difficult it is to write very sensibly, without losing somewhat of the agreeableness which one might employ, if he had a lesser Wit. But let an Author imprint well in his Mind, that the greatest Ornament of his Work, is always good Sense; all the rest wearies one, but Sense never tires. 'Twas the good Sense of Philip de Comines, made him justly deserve the esteem and approbation of our Age, in despite of the bad and ill-digested Language he wrote in. But of all Modern Historians, none has written more sensibly than Mariana in his History of Spain. It is the Masterpiece of the last Ages for that quality alone. In all that Work a Genius appears, which keeps him always from neglecting himself in choice Points, and from abandoning himself in those that are not so. And this judicious equality, which that Author always observes, though the matters he treats of be never so unequal, is little known to our late Historians. But the Art of thinking sensibly of things, is not sufficient, unless he has also that of expressing them purely.   

iv To write purely.  
An Historian, who thinks to commend his Book to future Ages, must think of 
h Historico sermoni decus conciliet, perspicuitas, proprietasque verborum. Beni lib. 2. de Histor.  writing purely. Without that advantage, an Historian will be but short lived. For want of 
i Quid tam necessarium quam recta locutio? Fab. l. 1.  purity of Style, so many Greek and Latin Historians, of whom Photius, and the other Library-keepers, have made mention, have perished in the general shipwreck of so many Books; and that, of a number almost infinite, of whom 
k Cura magna sentiendi & loquendi, sed dissimulatio curae praecipua. l. 9 c. 4.  Vossius speaks, none remain, but those that have writ reasonably enough to deserve to be read. You must not then pretend to write History, unless you very well know the Language you intent to write in, and, except you writ purely. For, as soon as your design is to instruct, you ought to think how to express yourself neatly, that you may be understood; for when a man speaks well, every one is willing to hear him: besides, one that speaks ill, never speaks any thing right; 
l Nihil est in Historia, pura & illustri brevitate dulcius. Cic. in Brut.  and that clearness, which is the greatest charm in History, can only be found in a pure Style. That purity consists chief in the propriety of words; in the natural ordering of the phrases, and in the wise and moderate use of figures. The style ought not to have any thing 
m In Sententia nihil absurdum, aut alienum, aut subinsulsum; in verbis nihil inquinatum, abjectum, non aptum, durum, long petitum, Cic. de op. gen. orat.  improper, strange, bold, hard, creeping nor obscure. Herodotus has that purity of style, and has excelled in it, above all other Grecians, as Caesar above all the Latins. The Wits of the following Ages grew rusty, and retained little of the purity of the Ancients. But Quintus Curtius, thinking to appear more polished, has lost somewhat of that great and majestic grace, which becomes Sallust and Livy so well. It is true that he flourishes some places too much; as for example, the Description of the River Marsyas, in the beginning of the third Book; The Adventure of Abdolonymus, who, from a Gardener, became King, in the fourth Book: Of the siege of Tyre, and of a great many others, where it appears an affectation of Eloquence little becoming the Gravity of History, which can bear nothing that is affected. Indeed, that purity of Elocution so necessary to History, aught to be supported by a great deal of Sense. For, 
n 
Non debet quisquam ubi maxima rerum momenta versantur, sollicitus esse de verbis, Fab. l. 8. c. 3.  
Ut monilibus & margaritis quae sunt Ornamenta Foeminarum, deformantur Viri, nec habitus triumphalis quo nihil augustius, foeminas decer, Fab. l. 11. c. 1.  
Ornatus omnis non tam sua, quam rei cui adhibetur conditione constat. ibid.   nothing is more fulsome than Eloquence, when empty of things, and which says nothing. It happens that, sometimes, purity of Discourse too much studied in great Subjects, diminishes its greatness; as it appears in the History of the Indies by Maffaeus, and in the wars of Flanders by Cardinal Bentivoglio. The one and the other have studied too much how to please by the Politeness of the discourse, not remembering, that Beauties that are sprucely attired smite least, and that the finest ornaments disguise a thing, whensoever they are excessive and disproportionate.   

V To write with Simplicity.  
You are also obliged to write with simplicity, to avoid that Pompous and that affected Air, which are both so contrary to that Character which is required in History: because, whatsoever is great, ceases to be so as soon as it is stripped of that simplicity; and that which is pure and great too, receives an accession of greatness, and becomes lofty. 
o Si oratio perderet gratiam simplicis & inaffectati coloris, perderet & fidem. Fab. l. 9 c. 4.  Nothing also instructs, and gets the public applause, more than that simplicity of Style, so beloved of the Ancients, and so little known by the Moderns. All that which is exaggerated, seems false; and Nature, which you ought to have for your object, delights not in impertinent flourishes. But that you may exactly understand that simplicity which is so necessary to a great Style; you must consider that there are three sorts of it; A simplicity in words, as that of Caesar; a simplicity in the Thoughts, as that of Sallust, a simplicity in the Design, as that of Thucydides, so much valued by 
p In judicio de Thucydide.  Dionysius Halicarnassaeus.  
The Moderns, which have come the nearest to that Character, are, amongst the French, Philip de Commines; Guichardin amongst the Italians, Buchanan in Scotland, Mariana amongst the Spaniards; the greatest part of the rest, seek only to maintain themselves by the Purity, Politeness, and other Ornaments of Discourse, when they have not a Spirit great enough to attain that simplicity; and they disguise the Truth, when they want strength to show it naked. Happy is the Man that can attain it, when he makes writing his Business; those that are ignorant may understand it, at the same time that the intelligent are charmed with it. But nothing is harder to get, than that plain and natural way, which makes the simplicity of the Style. A Genius extraordinary is required to express things clearly, without dropping into a low and cold style. For at the same time that you endeavour after simplicity, you ought to dread nothing more than flatness: What is then, that admirable simplicity, which is the highest perfection of a great work, and wherein does it consist? 
q Homerus brevem quidem cum animi jucunditate, propriam, carentem superfluis eloquentiam Menelao dedit, quae sunt virtutes generls primi. Fab. l. 12. c. 10.  It is to make use only of the most common and fittest words, but they must always be full of a great sense, as that Prince does, to whom Homer gives a brief Eloquence, agreeable, proper, without superfluity. 
r Exponere simpliciter ●…ne ulla Exornatione Cic. l. 2. de Invent.  It is to think and speak just what you have to say and to think, without giving too much quickness to your expression, as Strada does; and without giving too great a brightness to your thoughts, as Grotius did. It is to have your Sentiments ordinary and natural, not making so many Arguments and Reflections, as Davila in his History of the Troubles: for as soon as you argue so much, it is no more Nature that speaks, 'tis Art and Study: and those discourses so laboured, smell of the Schools. 
s Non dicere ornatius quam simplex ratio veritatis ferat. Cic. l. 1. de Orat.  It is not to mix more Ornament in your discourse than the modesty of the truth can bear. It is to express that natural and free air of 
t Xenophontis illam sucunditatem inaffectatam, quam nulla affectatio consequi possit, upsae sermonen Gratiae finxisse videantur. Fab. l. 10. c. i  Xenophon, which no imaginable affectation can attain. It is, in fine, to possess that marvellous talon of paring off the superfluous part of the Discourse, of which Phocian was so excellent a master; of whom, simple as he was, Demosthenes was wont to say, when he saw him ascend the Tribunal, as his Antagonist, 
u Plutarch.  Here's the sword which is going to cut off all the superfluity of my words. That you may well establish that Character, which, besides a great store of Wisdom and good Sense, requires much exercise and a great deal of Meditation; you must avoid the use of those Authors whose imagination is too full, that you may not fall in that torrent of false thoughts, boundless expressions, and those confusions which have but a glance of good sense, into which you will easily fall, if you have not an exact Sense, and an equal Spirit. You must propose to yourself no other rule of that manner of writing, but the Ancients. And, among those, you must make choice of them which have most of this simplicity. 
x 〈…〉.  Hermogenes propounds Theocritus and Anacreon for great Patterns of it: and indeed nothing is opener and freer than what they have writ. Herodotus seems to Longinus too bold. Dionysius Halicarnassaeus finds, that Thucydides, though a great Master of that Simplicity, loads some of his Relations with too much of the matter of fact. Xenophon and Polybius moralise too much, and often hinder the stream of History by their Reflections. Diodorus Siculus mixes too much Learning in his Discourses. Plutarch may go for a great original of that simplicity we look after: for every thing he says relishes of it. Livy seems not to me more agreeable by all his other great qualities than by that. The stream of his History is like that of a great River which floweth majestically, as that of Tacitus resembles a deep and swelling River, subject to overflowings: he never keeps a tenor in his thoughts, but often is immoderate in his expressions for want of this simplicity. Mariana is one of the most accomplished among the modern Historians, because he regards it most. For the simplicity of Style cannot be found in great Subjects, without being accompanied with greatness and nobleness. Those are the qualities from whence that first ground which History requires arise, and which we may, in a manner, call the first Elements of that beauty which it must have, and which ought to reign more in the mind, and in all the Character of the Historian, than in his Style and in his Discourse. Here are the other qualities which must be added to him to make him perfect, which I touch succinctly, without any other order, than that in which they present themselves to my mind. I begin with the Matter and the Form; that is to say, with that which is most essential to History.   

VI The Matter in History.  
The Matter fit to exercise the Art of an Historian is a vast field, since it extends itself to all the Actions of men, viz. Peace, War, Councils, Negotiations, Ambassies, Intrigues, and all the several Adventures which may happen in this life. 
y In rebus magnis, memoriaque dignis Historiam versari. Cic. de Orat. l. 2.  Cicero requires two qualities in the matter of an History. 
z Historiam afluetam discurrere per negotiorum celsitudines non humilium minutias indagare causarum. Ammian. Marcel. l. 26.  That they may be great things, and such as may be fit to be made public. None has explained better what choice an Historian ought to make of his Subject, than Dionysius Halycarnassaeus, in the Preface of his History, and in his Judgement upon Thucydides, where he prefers the choice which Herodotus has made of his Subject to that of Thucydides, for the reasons which he brings. But, as falsehood often resembles Truth, it requires a great deal of discretion and sagacity, to make an exact distinction of it, to unriddle the true motives of important Actions, from their colours and their pretexts, and to choose your Argument wisely, which may become curious and fine by the circumstances well laid together, and by the order wherein you must reduce that which is too wide and far diffused, by restraining it within the natural extent of those limits it ought to have. When it is so reduced, let the Historian render himself Master of it by a deep Meditation upon his Subject, which he ought entirely to understand. 
a Equidem non affirmare sustineo de quibus dubito, nec subducere quae accepi. Curt. l. 9  But let him also be so exact and religious, as never to abuse the Credit of the Public, by giving his own Conjectures for truth, or certain things for doubtful ones. Let him ascend, as much as in him lies, to the Spring of the Instructions he shall have given him, to make a just distinction of them. Let him never assure things upon common Reports, of which the Authors are always uncertain. Let him deliver them upon very sure Memoirs, and upon very faithful Relations. Let him not abandon himself too rashly to the Historians which have been before him, lest he should lose his way by following ill Guides. Let him make a great difference between those Relations that are interested, or suspected of Prejudice, and those that are not so. Let him always have a care of the Partialities of those which furnish him with Memoirs, because preoccupation can never make but false Histories. Herodotus, (whose History 
b Apud Herodotum sunt innumerabiles fabulae. l. 1. de Leg.  Tully condemns as fabulous) wrote only upon ill Memoirs, as Josephus pretends. 
c Marcellin. in vita Thucyd.  Thucydides, who had a mind to mend himself by avoiding that fault, confines himself to the History of his Time, not trusting any body, in writing only what he had seen, or what he had learned from People worthy to be believed, and from Memoirs, which he collected with great expenses, not only from the Athenians, but also from the Lacedæmonians, that he might be informed of both Parties. Xenophon, Polybius and Procopius, have done almost the same thing. Dio Cassius confesses in his History, that he had been ten years in preparing the materials. 
d Salustius marca transgressus dicitur, ut oculis suis crederet de conditionibus locorum. Petrare.  Petrarch assures us, that Sallust went into Africa, that he himself might observe the Situation of the Places he was to speak of in his History of the War of Jugurtha, not being willing to trust any other than his own eyes. For it is very important to be well assured of the ground you writ upon. Lucian makes the Historian of his Time pass for a fool, who wrote the War of Armenia upon common reports, having never seen any body who had been in Syria, where the Battle was fought: And 
e Vopisc. in praefat. Hist.  Vopiscus took the resolution to write the History of the Emperor Aurelian, only upon the assurance that Junius Tyberianus, Minister of State, gave him, to furnish him with good Records. But it is not enough to have had a share in the Transactions of affairs; there is also great need of an Excellent Spirit to deliver them well.  

f Hist. lib. ●2.  Polybius says, that calisthenes was eye witness of the Action between Darius and Alexander, when he gained the straits of Cilicia: yet for all that, there are a great many very gross errors in the Description of that important Expedition, and all because he was ignorant of the Art of War, and of the order which was observed in Battles in those Days. You must then, above all things, be very sure of your Matter, which shall never be wanting to those that have Wit: but you may want assurance, if you do not well discern the things you relate. How many false Memoirs are found, because they are spoiled by People that were interested? though nothing is more common than Materials for History, by reason that every thing may serve to it: We may say also, that nothing is scarcer than a sufficient assurance of them to fit them for it: and it is hardly found, because Prejudice occurs every where. 
g Boccal. in Raggual. di Parnassus.  Boccaline upon that Subject deserves your esteem, when he advises you to write nothing but what you have seen, and not to make it public before you die. That way you're sure of what you say, and there is no prejudice against it. But, take care above all things, to choose great Subjects, which can subsist upon their own stock: a great matter gives lustre and weight to your words; and Art must play in small Subjects, and supply their weakness.   

VII. The Form.  
The Form, which ought to be given to History, is that which is most essential to it. It is that which makes it Great or Little, and it is that from whence you take the Author's genius. You must then have an exalted Spirit, capable of great Ideas, if you will write well; that so, becoming a Master of your Subject, you may give your Matter what Form you please. It is upon that Model that Livy gives to his History a character of greatness, which is beyond all other Historians, by giving to all the Subjects he treats of, the colours their ground is capable to receive. Thus he gives to the last Kings of Rome all the Pride that an absolute Authority inspired them with; He changes the Spirit of the Commonwealth, by the austere Virtue of the first Consuls, by the Populary Motions of the Tribunes, by the austerity of the Government of the Decemvirs; by the lazy Delicacy of the last Consuls; that he distinguishes each Age by the Genius which has been predominant in it, not confounding the different motions of that genius with the different circumstances of Times, which don't resemble one another, and that he sustains himself always by the great Images he gives of the things he treats of. Tacitus to the contrary, gives almost to all his Matters the same form: all is done there by Policy; the People he speaks of, have always a Spirit higher than others. It is not their Spirit which makes them move, 'tis that of the Historian, who having a spirit too compacted, gives always the same Air to his expressions, and the same turn to his thoughts: all things resemble one another. Policy is still made the cause and the result of all things. 
h Tyberium ascitum. quod ejus arrogantiam introspexerit, & comparatione deterrima sibi gloriam quaesivisse. Tacit. l. 1. Annal.  If Augustus on his deathbed chose one to succeed him, he appointed an Emperor worse than himself, on purpose that he might be mourned for. If 
i Dolabella in absurdam adulationem progressus. l. 3. Ann.  Tiberius made Piso Governor of Syria, 'twas only to make him a Spy to Germanicus, by whom Egypt had been governed, and whose glory he did envy. Dolabella's flatteries displeased him, because they were too course. 
k Suspectabat Syllam socors ejus ingenium callidumque simulatorem interpretando. l. 13. Annal.  If he banishes Sylla, 'tis because he thinks his silence a wise dissimulation. That Emperor's modesty; is nothing but a hidden Ambition; his favours are only snares; his moderation is nothing but pride, and his Religion is nothing but grimace. He reckons it a sign of the God's displeasure, that Sejanus should become Favourite of the Emperor, and be raised to be a Minister of State. Arruntius poisons himself out of Policy, that he might not fall into the hands of a master more brutish than Tiberius. He finds an agreeableness even in the Emperor Claudius' folly, and a great deal of Wit in the debauches and brutishness of Nero. 
l Temporibus Neronis sapientia pro inertia fuit. ibid.  Some of the Blockheads of that Age and Reign, he represents as men of refined Prudence. In fine, all the characters resemble one another; Nature has no share in any thing, her Sentiments are always forced, and every where it is the same genius, which reigns by the impression of the Historian's Wit, and which has no great variety. Mariana runs on with a fuller career. The Romans, the Carthaginians, the Christians, the Arabians, the Moors, the Mahometans, make every one their Figure. The Wit of the Author mingles itself only with the other Spirits, to distinguish them according to their characters, opening always some new way as different as the Subjects he treats of requires. We may say also, that among the Moderns, no History is greater for its form than that of Mariana.   

VIII. The End of History.  
Romance only pleases, History instructs: This is the essential difference between them; this having no other end, than the instructing of the Public. 
m Alias in Historia leges observandas, alias in Poemate; illa ad veritatem quaeque, in hoc ad delectationem referri pleraque. Cic. 1. de legib.  For, as it is not compiled only for the present; its aim ought not to be limited to the time, which passes away, but to Posterity, which is Everlasting. What folly were it in a Man, that should think of nothing but diverting the People of the Age he lives in, when he may become useful to all Ages? Those are the Reasons 
n O pulchra ista pars, quae actiones vitamque bene format ac dirigit. Tacit. Ann. l. 3.  Lucian uses, to oblige an Historian to think of nothing but of being useful, by ruling the Hearts and Minds of Men by the Instruction he gives them. They are deceived, he says, who pretend that History can be divided into two parts, the Useful and Agreeable; for an Historian ought to have no other prospect, than the profit People draw from a sincere and true Narration. If he intermix some thing that is agreeable, he ought not to corrupt the Truth, but rather to embellish it, and make it the more acceptable. And, to justify his Opinion, he shows the extravagant way of the Historians of his Age, which made themselves ridiculous by following other Principles. 
o Graecis historiis plerumque poeticae similis est licentia. Fab. l. 2. c. 4.  Herodotus sought how to please those of the Age he wrote in, but his Sincerity was so run down in the following Ages, that it 
p Et quicquid Graecia mendax peccat in Historia. Juv. Sat. 10.  made the Sincerity of the Greek Historians be suspected in Quintilians Time. Photius makes mention of an Historian, which thought that his saying incredible things made him the more acceptable. And 
q Quidam incredibilium relatu commendationem parant: & Lectorem aliud acturum, si per quotidiana duceretur, miraculo excitant; & opus suum fieri populare non putant, nisi mendacio asperserint, Sen. l. 7. quaest. Nat.  Seneca complains, that in his Time there were Historians who pretended to make themselves famous by their fabulous Narrations. This was always pleasant to the People who delight in Fictions; but not to Men of Sense and Honesty, who love Truth only. In the following Ages, the Arabians stuffed their Writings with so many Fables, that they spoiled the greatest part of the Greek Historians of their Age, by the fancy then in fashion, of mingling surprising Adventures in all their Relations: they thought the only way to please the People, was to say incredible things. The same Spirit infected part of the Modern Grecians, which is the cause why the Account we have of those Times by the Byzantine History, is not the surest in the World, the Authors of it not seeming very exact; and when an Author writes by their Memoirs, he ought to take great Precautions against so false an Idea, to make People believe him, because the least falsehood spoils all, and converts Truth into a Fable. Even the truest things ought not to be told, when they appear incredible or extraordinary, unless you give 'em an appearance, or, at least, a colour of Truth. It is what Thucydides does: and, though he saw Herodotus in so great an esteem, that the names of the Muses were given to his Books, he thought of nothing but of speaking the Truth, without minding to please the People. 
r Lucian. de conser. Hist.  I had rather, said he, please by telling Truth, than be pleasant in telling Tales: because, if I be not pleasant, I may be useful; and perhaps, I might do hurt in being agreeable. 
s Utilitatem juvandi praetulerunt gratiae placendi. Plin. praef. Hist. Nat. de Thucyd. & al. Hist.  Be then strongly persuaded, that nothing is fine in History, but that which is real; and that, Truth being its greatest Ornament, an Historian that will please, aught to speak true.   

IX. That Truth is the only mean through which History comes to its end: and how it is to be found.  
Truth being the only mean by which History can surely instruct; Truth ought to make the chiefest Rule of History, as your History ought to be the ground of People's Belief. But where is it to be found? Is there any thing in the World more hidden than Truth? For, besides the Clouds she is commonly encompassed with, which render her sometimes unaccessible, she is wrapped up with all the Disguises men's imaginations are capable of. And if the ordinary ignorance of  Writers is an obstacle to the knowledge of Truth; their little sincerity, nay, their fabulous way, is a far greater. For how often do we give wrong Judgement, through false Ideas which arise from our Passion, Interest, or Prejudice, which Error or Opinion are wont to inspire Men's minds? In fine, Truth being of a nature so unknown to Men, either through her own obscurity, or through the weakness of their Understanding, or for want of application; there is nothing harder than to make her known to the Public without defacing her. And, as she is continually corrupted, and even profaned, through the baseness of her Adorers, the most part of the Historians being commonly Pensioners of Courts: You ought to set yourself above hope or fear, as soon as you meddle with writing, that you may always dare to say the Truth. But, it is not enough to have a mind to say it, you must also make yourself able, by seeking it in its purest original, by searching the Closets of the Learned and curious, and by consulting the Instructions of those who have had a share in businesses, to unravel what has been most mysterious in the most private intrigues.  
You must, above all things, study Men in general; to discover their Spirit, to dive into their Secrets, to know the greatest weakness of their hearts, to penetrate their very thoughts, that you may not impose false ones upon them; and to judge of them by those natural and unforeseen Motions, which slip from them without their notice. That way you may discover the true sentiments of the Soul; the heart having no spare time to observe itself and to put on a disguise: for as soon as it reflects, it forces itself, as 
t Agrippinae pavor & consternatio mentis emicuit, quamvis vultu premeretur. Octavia, quamvis rudibus annis, dolorem, charitatem, affectus omnes abscondere didicerat. Ita post breve silentium repetita convivii laetitia. Tacit. l. 13. Ann.  Tacitus observes in Agrippa, and in Octavia Sister to Britannicus. For, in the moment that the poison which Nero sent him at the Banquet at which he died, seized his Spirits; Octavia, as well as Agrippina showed Consternation in their faces: But, as Octavia thought to marry Nero, and Agrippina his Mother; a Woman naturally proud, had a mind to Reign, upon a politic Account they resumed their Countenance; and that they might not anger the Emperor, who was making sure of his Rival to the Empire; they force their Sentiments, hid their Sorrows, and continue their Supper with the same mirth, (whilst the Prince was expiring in the Antichamber) as if nothing had passed of that kind. There is a great Spirit in that Author, whose design is, to give an exact knowledge of those whose History he writes. But, our late Authors think but little of that, and that is the reason why we have so few true Historians. 
u Rerum gestarum pronunciator sincerus Thucydides. Cic. de Clar. Orat.  There is a Temper of mind, fit to say things as they are, which is not a common one. It is one of the properties of Thucydides, the most faithful and sincere of all Historians: There is in his Works a Taste of Truth, and a discerning of Truth from Falsehood, joined to an exact Spirit, which acquired him the approbation and esteem of all people. 
w Dionys Halyc. in Judicio de Thucyd.  Dionysius Halycarnassaeus praises him above all for his sticking to the Truth, pretending that he never said any thing against his Conscience; in which he has excelled Herodotus, whose whole design was to please People: for Strabo says, that he mingles Fables with his Histories on purpose to render them agreeable. 
x Scribe securus, dicas quod velis, habiturus mendaciorum comites quos historiae eloquentiae miramur authores. Vopisc. praefaet. Hist.  The Historians of the Low Empire became so great Flatterers, that their want of Sincerity made Vopiscus change the mind he had of writing the History of his Time. But, the Governor of the Town, who was a Favourite of the Emperor, took off that Scruple, in a Discourse he had with him, as they were once walking together, by showing him, that the greatest Historians had been deceived in many things. 
y Asin. Poll. apud Florid. Sab.  Pollio tells us, that the same thing had happened to Caesar in his Commentaries, for not having reviewed his writings. If the greatest men are subject to err, what will ordinary ones do? 
z Neminem Scriptorum, quantum ad Historiam pertinet, non aliquid esle mentitum. Vopisc. ibid.  And if Truth does not always show itself in its purity to extraordinary Spirits, how will it make itself known to small ones, who, through the quality of their Genius, can say nothing without altering the Circumstances, by diminishing or enlarging the objects? for there is nothing scarcer than an exact temper, fit to say things as they are: we say them as we conceive 'em; and we conceive 'em good or bad, according as our Imagination is: and, of many that have seen the same thing, there is not often above two that relates it alike, every one saying what he has seen, according to the Idea he has conceived of it, and as his mind is turned. The quality then, I say, most requisite for an Historian, is a Spirit exact and faithful, in speaking the Truth in all its Circumstances, so as to deserve the People's belief. But it is not enough for an Historian to say what is true, he must give it also a fine turn: that turn is the Style; let us see which is the most Convenient for History.   

X. The Style fit for History.  
The Style is the Form of the Discourse, and the manner you writ in: the fittest for every body is that which is most comformable to his genius, which ought to be followed, without forcing it; so that a Style mixed is always vicious. It is a defect of Strada in his History of the Low Country's, who by the clearness of his Imagination, and by his great Lectures, had filled his mind with different characters; and that mixture which is found in his manner of writing, how agreeable soever it is, diminishes its Perfection. 
a Verum ipsum inscribentis sinceritate candoreque elucet. Melch. Can. in loc. Theol. l. 11. c. 6.  Mariana, who was of the same Society, has more strength, and is smother in his Style. But the fittest Style for History is that which has most of the Character of Truth, and wherein that natural light of Sincerity, which commonly accompanies the Truth, shines most: for, people easily believe things digested thus. 
b Luc. de conser. Hist.  The Style for History, as Lucian says, must be clean and natural, because that clearness is the Rule of what it ought to say, as Truth is a Rule of what it ought to think. It's 
c Quanquam vincta sit, soluta videri debet oratio. Fab. l. 9 c. 4.  Discourse must be free, though well compacted, and that it may have that freedom which makes it natural, it requires less number than Turn. 
d Historia non tam finitos numeros, quam orbem contextumque desiderat. ibid.  But because an Historian ought to read ancient Authors, to make himself a Style according to his capacity, he shall find it necessary to make his Observations in that Study, and so form to himself a Method fit for his Design. 
e In Herodoto omnia leniter fluunt: tum ipsa dialectus habet jucunditatem. Fab. l. 9 c. 4.  Herodotus' Style is sweet, flowing, and agreeable. That of 
f Thucydides praesractior, nec ita rotundu●. In eo orbem orationis desidero. Cic. in Bruto.  Thucydides is nobler and greater, but not so natural; he has a rough way, which makes him obscure, and he has less number and less turn than Herodotus. 
g Obscurus ●…t quia pressus. ibid.  Xenophon has a tender and sweet strain. His Discourse, which is not unlike to pure and clear Water, has no fellow in Antiquity, except Caesar's; for nothing was ever writ in Latin more clearly. 
h Tribus libris de bello civili Caesari falso ascriptis nihil durius, nec candori Caesariano minus conveniens Flor. Sabin. in calum. long. lat.  A Modern Crticks observation (who remarks some difference of Style in his Book of the Civil Wars, which he pretends to have not been written so purely as the Wars of the Gauls) goes beyond me: I have not knowledge enough to find that, and I am of Suetonius' Mind, who makes no difference throughout. I confess I am delighted with the Eloquence and Simplicity of that Author, no body ever wrote more clearly; 
i Genus oration is fusum & cum lenitate quadam a quabili profluens, sine judiciali asperitate, & Sententiarum forentium aculeis prosequendum. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  but the Nobleness of Livy's Discourse charm my Spirits. That Historian has been read with respect in all Nations, for almost now two thousand years, upon the score of that Majestic way of speaking, which has been admired by all Ages. Nothing also fills my Fancy better than that admirable choice of Words always fitted to his Sentiments, and that expressing of Sentiments always conformable to the things he Speaks of. In a word, he is the Man of all, that has better attained to that Style Cicero advises one to follow in History, And 'tis by that great Model that Mariana, Buchanan, Paulus Aemilius, Paulus Jovius, and all those who carried any Vogue after their Age, have form themselves in the way of Writing History. Tacitus is not so fit; for that Lustre of his high flights is like Lightning, whose Brightness dazzles, instead of making the Matter plain. Paterculus and Florus have given a small Air, flourished and delicate, which pleases their Readers. The Writers Augustae Historiae, as Ammianus Marcellinus, Lampridius, Spartianus, Julius Capitolius, Vopiscus, and the others, have degenerated in a cold and impure Style, which has nothing of that Noble Simplicity of former Ages. 
k Salustius rerum Romanorum florentissimus Author. Tac. l. 3. Hist.  Sallust is great and elevate in his way of Writing, which causes Quintilian to compare him to Thucydides. 
l Salustio vigente amputatae Sententiae, & obscura brevitas fuere pro cultu. Sen. l. 11. Epist. 114.  Q. Curtius has a polished and bright Style. And by those two Methods, which are almost the only two fit to be used, you may examine which of the two is the fittest for History; and that Question is the most important that can be made upon that Subject.   

XI. Which is the properest for History, the Great or the flourished Style?  
In a Question of so great a Consequence as this, which is not yet determined; 'tis enough for one to give the Reasons which may serve for the decision thereof, when a Man has not the Authority of determining it. 
m Verba excerpsit Salustius ex originibus Catonis. Suet. in Aug.  Sallust has a Greatness in his Style; but some of his Expressions are harsh, which makes him look dry in some Places, because he had formed himself by the rudeness 
n Salustius Scriptor seriae et severae orationis. Aulug. l. 17. c. 18.  of the Remains of Cato; which gives to his Discourse a Gravity which looks like Severity. And contrariwise, none is more polished than Q. Curtius; It is an admirable Flower of Expression, which pleases Men of Wit, but the business is, that we must examine whether the stiff Style of Sallust, hard as it is, be not wholesomer and fit for History, giving as it does Weight, Strength, and Greatness to the Discourse. Is it not rich? and done't we find sometimes in that hard and severe Style, that agreeableness of which Demetrius the Phalerian speaks; which 
o Homer. Odyss. l. 9  Homer has so well expressed in his Odyssaea, about the Adventures of Polyphemus; where Demetrius pretends, in his Book of Elocution, that he is the first Author of it; that is to say, those Graces which have nothing soft nor effeminate, and which are agreeable without being affected. The same Author quotes many Examples of it, taken out of Xenophon, who has the Art of making things Pleasant, which of themselves are not at all so. Herein that severe Style properly consists, which 
p Hermogen. de Ideis, l. 1. c. 5. & l. 2. the invent.  Hermogenes prefers to a soft Style, when he says, that a mere naked Narration has often more Strength, than a Narration which is adorned and flourished; because a severe Style may have some Greatness, and a soft Style can only have a Mediocrity. That is also the Reason why he reckons good Sense, (tho' never so naked) amongst the qualities of the Noble and elevated Style. This was, says he, the Character of Pericles, upon which Demosthenes formed himself to that strong and fierce Eloquence, wherein he has excelled : Hiperides, says he, in another place, is great tho' careless: his Style is rough and dry, but it is noble and elevate; 
q Austerus graeca consuetudine Cornal. Fron. de differvocum.  for, that Austerity of Style, which was the true Character of the Greeks, is nothing but 
r Artis severae si quis amat effectus, mentemque magnis applicat, prius more frugalitatis lege polleat exacta. Pet.  a true and exact Sense, and a just and correct Reason; which, without stopping at a show of Brightness, pursues Solidity. 
s Si juvenes verba atroci stylo effoderent, jam illa grandis oratio haberet maiestatis suas pondus. Petr.  It has nothing false in its Sentiments; all its Attention is bend towards a Sobriety of Discourse, which is nothing but Sense and Simplicity. Plutarch also attributes that Style to Demosthenes, which Dionysius Halycarnassaeus does not distinguish from the great and elevate. It is, in fine, that strength of Expression, which alone gives to our Discourse, Nobleness and Majesty, by which it becomes great and solid. Hence it is that Caesar, though unaffected, has something Nobler in the Simplicity of his Discourse, than Tacitus with all the Pomp of his Words: and there appears a kind of Carelessness in the Ancients, which is worth all the Diligence of the Moderns. 
t Historica locutio, ubi munditiem retinuerit, majora ornamenta non requirat, simplex, pura, naturalis sit, nec Atticum siccitatem referre possit. Beni. l. 1. de Hist.  I don't say, but that a flourished Style may be of use in small Histories, which have not ground enough to support themselves without help. 
u It is a small History in French.  The Princess of Montpensier ought to be written with all the Eloquence Art can allow; but the History of the War of Paris, and of the Late Troubles, aught to be written with a greater Air; Small Subjects require Finery, great Ones Strength and Dignity. Let Paterculus be prettily adorned in the Character he took; but Livy ought to be great and serious: small Beauties ought to be finely attired to show themselves; but great ones have no need of it, because they bear a good weight of themselves. Besides, Truth, which is the Soul of History, becomes suspicious, as soon as it is too much adorned; and Carelessness has more an Air of Sincerity. This is what was to be observed upon the Style in particular, after the general Notions I have given thereof: but as it is of use only in Narration, we'll examine in what manner it ought to be.   

XII. The Narration.  
History being, properly speaking, nothing but a 
w Historia est narratio rei gestae, per quam ea quae facta sunt dignoscuntur. Isidor. l. 1. Orig.  Rehearsal of things past, and in the same order as they came to pass, ought also to be a continued Narration. 
x Expositio praeteritorum Temporum. Fab. l. 4. c. 2.  Therefore, as it hath nothing more essential than the knowing how to relate well, so, nothing is more difficult. 
y Custodia fidelis rerum gestarum. Tit. Liv. l. 6. Annal.  For it is a great Art to fix an unconstant and fickle Reader's mind. What wisdom does it not require to manage every where those colours that are necessary to give the resemblance to things, and to mix constantly with them those features, those light touches, those graces, that warmth, that quickness, which hinders a Narration from languishing? how dexterous must an Historian be, to use both Art and Wit, in what he says, yet not to seem to do so; 
z Dare orationis varios vultus. gaudent enim res varietate. Fab. l. 9 c. 2.  And by all the variety of Expressions, Figures and Thoughts, to adorn every part of his History, without the least smatch of Ostentation? what knowledge ought he to have, to discern what must be said, and what let alone, to speak and hold his Peace, to dwell no longer than is fit upon the Points he treats of; to explain things at large, or by degrees, as necessity or a good Decorum requires; to enlarge or shorten them; to retrench, by a felicity of Expression, those Topics, which otherwise would be insipid, and never to weary the Reader by too great an uniformity? In fine, what a Judgement to separate carefully that which is becoming from that which is not Decent? for upon that chief runs all the Beauty of a Narration, and all the Grace of History. But a Narration is perfect whenever it has nothing of Superfluity. This is, in a word, the utmost perfection it is capable of being brought to. The Rules laid down by Cicero and 
a Circumcisa expositio rei quae supervacuis caret. Fab. l. 4. c. 1.  Quintilian say no more: after them I have nothing to say. For when once the Superfluities are cut off, the Circumlocutions which are not useful, the feigned Descriptions which are only fit to make a show, and all the vain Ornaments of the Discourse are suppressed, every thing comes close to its point. 
b Densus, brevis, semper instans sibi comitatis affectibus. Thucydides. Fab. l. 10. c. 1.  The Vigour, the Strength and the Dignity, all support each other, without any Flatness. In that 
c Thucydides verbis aptus & pressus. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  Thucydides outdid Horedotus, who is too big in some places, where he gives himself too much to the fineness of his Imagination. 
d Immortalem illam Salustis velocitatem consecutus Livius. Fab. l. 10. c. 1.  Sallust is of a Character exact and short. He is properly commendable for the quickness and torrent of his Discourse. 
e Illa Salustiana brevitas, qua nihil apud aures erudiras perfectius esse potest, captanda. ibid.  That is it which animates him, and makes him so lively. Caesar's Narration is admirable for its Purity and Eloquence, but it is not quick enough; and he wants of that Strength which he found too abounding in Terence. 
f Livius in narrando mira jucunditatis, clarissimique candoris, ita ducuntur omnia tum rebus, tum personis accommodata. Fab. l. 10. c. 1.  As for Livy, he has a way of rehearsing that is very taking, by that Art he has of mixing in his Narration small things with great ones; because great ones, when too much enlarged, tyre the Reader by reason of the great Attention they require, and small ones refresh him: it is with that same Method that he varies his Adventures; that he interchanges sad things for delightful ones; that Mannages his Light and his Shade with a wise and judicious Temper, that so he may keep the Reader in tune by that Variety. For a Narration becomes insipid, as soon as it wants diversity of Accidents, Adventures, Figures, and Expressions. You must even allow some intervals to things, that your Reader may take breath, and not intermix your matter by too great a confusion of things. It is a fault that Dionysius Halycarnassaeus judges 
g Thucydides creber rerum frequentia. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  Thucydides guilty of, in the third Book of his History, where he so mixes the several Interests 
h Dionysius Halyc. tractat. de judic. Thucyd.  of the Athenians, Lacedæmonians, and of the other People of Greece, that he confounds, in a manner, the very appearance of things, by a Narration too much loaded with Matter: and this failure is incident to those of a copious and fluent Invention. Tho' the 
i Rerum ratio ordinem temporum desiderat. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  order of Times be the most natural to a Narration, because it unfolds things passed; there is nevertheless an order of Reason in ranging Events, which ought particularly to be the study of an Historian. It is only by that secret Order that you may endear your Reader, so as to imprint your own Sentiments on his Mind, when you show him Men acting naturally as they ought: and when you show him their Manners, their Thoughts, their Designs and their Motives, as they are in a kind of dependency upon each other in the same natural order, which joins them well together, 
k In rebus magnis, memoriaque dignis, confilia primum, deinde act●…, postea eventus expectantur, Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  An Historian that can well put those things together, is a great Man; that is the thing which pleases, and not those extraordinary Events which People run after for want for Judgement; for nothing is more taking than to see men act in that Order; that alone, when all comes to all, fixes the mind. Livy excelled in that, because he followed closely that Order, by drawing the Thread of his History with a connexion of Discourse, and by weaving together always those Actions that are of an equal size. 
l Longin. c. 18.  Longinus has well observed, that Thucydides breaks the Order of things, to surprise the Reader by that disorder, by bringing in unexpected Occurrences in his Narration: He tells even sometimes things passed in the present time, showing them as though they were passing actually, which makes the Reader more attentive, and affects him most. Tacitus is of a soaring Spirit, who does not say things in order. His great sense, shut up in the compass of a few words, has not an extent proportioned to his Reader's minds, who are often overwhelmed with it: and having not a natural strain in what he says, he scarce ever fits his words to men's Notions; he does not instruct well: For Example, when on the occasion of the Papian Law he explains the ground of the Laws; or in another place, he speaks of Asylums, he does not return to the origin of things; he shows nothing clearly, or he does it ill; as when he explains the Religion of the Jews, l. 5. of his History; his very Style is not fir for it, which is a great fault in an Historian, whose chiefest Profession is to instruct. After all, a Narration is good (which way soever it is digested) when it pleases.   

XIII. Transitions.  
The great Art of a Narration, and one of its chiefest Beauties, consists in the Transitions. In effect, those fine and natural turns, those happy passages from one Subject to another, make the stream of a Discourse engaging: those insinuating ways lead the mind of a Reader from one Object to another, and show him a great deal, without tiring him: In fine, all that admirable Oeconomy of the Transition, is that which is most delicate and sprightly in the Narration, which seem always constrained, and never easy or natural without that Art It is not enough to speak well to attain it: you must be eloquent; you must be Master of your Subject, and to know the grounds and consequences well; for the fittest Transitions ought to be much more in things than in words. So that those Excursions from Kingdom to Kingdom, from Nation to Nation, from Age to Age, without Method, and without Management, are no way opportune to a well digested History, wherein all things ought to be well laid and compacted; as in a great Palace, where nothing ought to be scattered or irregular; for the compactness, and the proportion of its Apartments, make one of its greatest Beauties: So History is like a Body, composed of its Members by the Natural Union; in which Saunder's History of the Schism of England, is very defective, amongst Moderns, as that of Florus and Paterculus, amongst the Ancients. 
m Xenophon fluens & fine salebris oratio, Cic.  Xenophon's Language is very well knit, sweet and flowing, yet Livy still exceeds him, his Narration being of one even continued thread; his Transitions consist less in words than in things. Sallust is not so well knit; Tacitus is still less; his Connexion's are forced, and the stréam of his Discourse much interrupted, which surprises the Reader, who must sweat, if he will follow that Author. The most difficult Transitions are those which are found in the commonest things; for an Author ought to sustain himself with strong Expressions, where the matter is but small, and must find a way how to couple things that otherwise have no Union at all. It is in those places he ought to show all his Skill. The Reader's mind is so tender, that an Historian cannot always turn it as he pleases. But he must be conducted from adventure to adventure, by Connexion's well covered for Order sake. For, in a word, he often has a foolish pride, and flights, which render him untractable. But there is need of a great deal of Art to vary those Transitions, which never ought to be like one another, to give always new Ideas to the Reader, by not showing him always the same Objects: It is in this an Historian must lay out his Industry; for herein the gracefulness of a Narration consists, which alone can render it acceptable and delightful.   

XIV. The Circumstances of a Narration.  
If a Narration becomes agreeable by the Transitions, it becomes credible by the Circumstances. For nothing engages one more than a Fact clothed with good Circumstances, which though dark and obscure of itself, by the particulars becomes palpable, clear, sensible and evident; and as the progress of great undertake, and of Affairs of importance, is seen only by bringing them into a good order by the several degrees of their Circumstances; so the Art of explaining the Truth in all its Dependencies, by unravelling what is particular, making one of the great Ornaments of History, a Writer ought to study it with all imaginable care. Here follows the Observations one may make of it. The great Secret is, to know how to make a wise and judicious choice of the Circumstances that are capable of giving a great Idea of things, to imprint in them that Colour which can give them credit, and so make way for them to possess the mind. And this will be obtained by a concourse of great and small Circumstances mixed with Dexterity, when well chosen. Great Circumstances give some admiration, and small ones pleasure, provided they are well chosen, and not exaggerated. But though an Action, which is not exactly reported, makes no impression, you must nevertheless shun those Expressions of low and frivolous Particulars, which make a Subject worse; for you become childish, and even ridiculous, by sticking too close to little things; As that impertinent Historian 
n Luc. in Conser. Hist.  Lucian speaks of, who gives a very particular Description of the Parthian's Veste, and of the Roman Emperor's Shield, when he describes the Fight. Others, adds he, not thinking of Essential things, lose time in things not useful; as he, who after having spoke by the by, a word or two of the Battle, which made then the Subject of his Discourse, stops to relate the Adventures of a Moorish Knight, the most extravagant in the World. So Procopius, in his secret History, forgets the Circumstances necessary, and rehearses what is needless. You must then, in the recital of any Action of Consequence, know well how to lay the Circumstances which are to make the thing plain, and to sustain it in its light, by distinguishing the Essential from that which is not so. The most accomplished pattern we have in History of a great Action, told in all the Circumstances capable of giving it weight and splendour, is Hannibal's March into Italy, as it is written in the 21st Book of the Annals of Livy. It is, in my judgement, the most perfect part of his History; and there are few things of that strength in Antiquity. A greater design never entered into a more extraordinary mind; and nothing was ever accomplished more cleverly. The Argument was, Hannibal's coming out of Africa, marching through Spain, over the Pyrenean Hills; crossing the Rhone, at his very mouth, a River vast and swift, whose Banks were covered with so many Enemies; his opening himself a way through the Alps, where no man had ever passed before; travelling upon Precipices; disputing at every step with People that lay in Ambuscadoes, in continual Filings, amidst the Snow, Ice, Rain, Torrents, defying Storms and Thunder; making War with Heaven, Earth, and all the Elements; drawing after him an Army of a hundred thousand Men of different Nations, and all jealous of a General, whose Courage they were not able to imitate. The Soldier's Minds were possessed with fear, Hannibal alone remains unshaken, the danger which encompasses him, abates the Courage of all the Army, but never disturbs his Mind. All is drawn in a Relation of horrid Circumstances; in every word of that Historian danger is expressed; never Picture was better finished in History, touched with livelier Colours, and with bolder strokes. Nothing also is better adorned with Circumstances in 
o Tacit. l. 2. Annal.  Tacitus, than that Feast the Empress Messalina made to show her Love to Silius, her Gallant. All the Ceremonies appeared as though it had been Vintage-time, that Season favouring the Feast; Mirth, Pleasure, frolic and lascivious Debauchery, are all expressed with the fineness of an exquisite Eloquence; and the Relation thereof is particularised succinctly and sensibly, and made throughout in such a manner, as speaks Life and Spirit; and nothing is more judiciously placed, rendering by this lively representation Messalina's Death, which follows after more Tragical and full of Horror. In fine, there are happy Circumstances, which give an agreeableness every where, where they are applied; but you must understand them well, to know where they must be applied. Things become often greater by their Circumstances, than they do by themselves. Let us then look into those Circumstances which can both instruct and please, and keep the Reader from doazing. Let us imitate Davila, who is so taking, by the Art he has duly to  what he says with proper Circumstances; yet great Relations weary the Spirits; so let us make a judicious distinction of the Circumstances Necessary, and of Importance, from those that are not so. Let us consult Lucian, and his Discourse upon History; he is a great Master in that. But to make a complete Narration, we must join to the Circumstances of its things, the Motives of its Actions; for Motives well touched make a Narration as curious, as the Circumstances make it likely.   

XV. The Motives.  
To tell Men's Actions without speaking of their Motives, cannot properly be called to write History. It is just like a Gazette, where the Author contents himself barely to report the Events of things, without going up to their Spring. As Caesar, who gives merely his Marches, and his Encamp, without telling their Motives; every thing in his Narration being too plain and open; though 'tis true he writes only Memoirs. It is then that curious rehearsing of Motives which cause Men to Act, by which alone History itself becomes delicate, and sustains itself chief in important Affairs. To say things as they are passed, without going to their beginning, is properly to stop at the outward part of Things. Reason will have it, says Cicero, 
p Rerum ratio vult, ut quoniam in rebus magnis confilia primum, deinde acta, postea eventus expectantur; in rebus gestis declarari, non solum quid actum, aut dictum sit, sed quomodo, & cum de eventu dicatur, ut causae explicentur omnes, etc. l. 2. de Orat.  that as in Affairs, the Design precedes the Execution; The Historian gives an Account, not only of Events, but also of Causes; and that in relating what has been done, he explains how, and for what Reason it was done. Tacitus says almost the same thing; that it is important for History, not only to tell the Events of things, but to discover the Ground and Principles of them, and to touch upon the Motives thereof; 
q Ut non modo casus eventusque rerum, sed ratio etiam, causaque noscantur. 14. Ann.  by this an Historian distinguishes himself, and makes himself considerable; and nothing is more pleasing in a Narration, than the Explication of what is secret, and of Importance in those People's Designs and Intentions, whose Actions it relates; and History having nothing more commendable than this, all the little Historians, even of the smallest Credit, have endeavoured to excel in that way. For, nothing strikes more upon the Curiosity of men, than this, by which they are made to discern what is more concealed in men's Minds; that is to say, the secret motions which make them act, even in their ordinary Undertake. It is only by going up to the Cause, that you will see the minds of those you speak of; that you'll discover the Spirit which makes them act what they are capable of, and that you'll find the Truth by searching deeply into their Intentions. But with how many Falsehoods are Histories filled upon this fair Pretext? And, into how many Errors do unjust, false, and interested Historians daily fall, which abandon themselves to their Conjectures; distribute their own Imaginations to the Public, to express the Designs of those whom they speak of? As for Example; That Pericles caused the War in Peloponnesus, because he loved Aspasia: That Xerxes carried that dreadful Army, History tells us, only to eat Figs: That M. Anthony lost the Empire, merely because he would not part with Cleopatra: That Francis the First of France, carried his Armies over into Italy, only upon the account of the fair Lady named Claricea. There is nothing more ticklish and difficult than to search into men's hearts, and thence to guests or discover what they think; for an Author will tell all he knows, and all that comes into his mind, rather than fail telling the Truth. It is one of the greatest failings in Davila, whose Discourses are otherwise just enough; but his conjectures in the motives of the Actions he relates, do not prove very true, if we may take the Truth from their Fathers. Not but that, after all, an Action very well cleared to its very Motives, and a Secret well penetrated, might give a great Idea of the Historian's Ability, and make us judge, that he speaks like a man well informed, and looks very well in History.  
But that an Author, 
r Haud facile animus rerum provider, ubi officiunt odium, amicitia, ira, atque misericordia. Caesar. apud Sallust. in Catil.  who pretends to guests, be always upon his Guards against prejudice; that he hearkens neither to his Affection nor his Hatred; to avoid Artifice, and those Colours men are prompt to give to things, in favour of that side he is prejudiced for; that he inserts no falsehoods, to justify his Conjectures, and to make things agree with that Air he is pleased to give them; that he neither diminish nor exaggerate any thing, as Tacitus, who casts a Poison every where; or as Paterculus, who strews every thing with Flowers. Let him not show men worse affected than they are, as Herodotus does, when he says, that the Persians were called into Greece by the Spartiates, because they could resist the Lacedæmonians not longer, nor suffer them, as 
s Plutarch. de Herod. Malig.  Plutarch reproaches him; let him not also cover an unjust dealing with a good intention, as Callias of Syracuse, who justifies all the Actions of Agathocles, because he did him some good, as 
t Excerp●… Const. ex Diodoro.  Diodorus takes notice; nor as Paulus Jovius, in respect of Cosmus de Medicis, not long since. There are in all Historians mistakes of that kind, because they are few that have a mind steady enough to resist their Prejudice. But though the motives in great men ought regularly to be better and greater than their Actions; for the motives depend upon them, but the events do not: yet it is but a small mistake, as Noble men are, to mix in their Counsels, and in their Deliberations part of the pride and of the weakness they are subject to: for oftentimes it is only through some impertinent and ridiculous motives, that the most part of men are determined. There is an infinite number of Examples thereof, which I leave, that I may not exceed bounds upon that matter. You must, above all things, know well the Vanity, the Malice, the Ignorance, and the Folly of men's minds, which always conforms to their Principles, to know well the bottom of their Intentions, and search his Weakness, which is the great Principle of Malice; and above all things, not to be ignorant, that the Laziness of most great men, in examining the bottom of Affairs, and the impatience they have to judge of them upon what the Conduct most essential to their Affairs depends. It is them we must necessarily know, for being, as they are, the Great Actors upon the Stage of this World, all things, for the most part, are ruled by their Extravagancies: But it does not follow, that if we have done once well in this way, by chance, we should be able to do it always. There are Historians in this Age, which have ruined their Reputation by too great an itch of mingling their Conjectures with all Events, and imposing their own Conceits upon the Public instead of History; as Herrera, who says, that the Duke of Parma did not do the best he could against the Hollanders, to manage them with Policy. There is nothing more contrary to an Historian's mind, (who ought to be sincere and faithful) than those conjectures which are built in the Air, without any Foundation, and all Discourses grounded upon many conjectures, are either uncertain or frivolous. This is what must be observed in Transitions, in Circumstances, and in the Motives wherein the chief Art of a Narration consists. This is also what must be regarded in its other parts, which are the Figures, the Passions, the Descriptions, the Speeches, the Reflections, or the Sentences; the Characters of Persons, the Digressions, and all that can enter in the Oeconomy of the Discourse which History ought to be made of.   

XVI. Figures.  
History makes use of Figures only to animate itself: The Speaker, who has a mind to impose, speaks always by Figures, that the Springs of his Art may play the better: but the Historian, whose mind is only to instruct, aught to use them in another way. That very Simplicity which Truth requires in History, does not take that way of figurating, which would injure its Candour and Ingenuity. 
u Luc. de conser. Hist.  Lucian, who is admirable every where else, is not here so much as against those vain Ornaments of Eloquence, which are not convenient for History. If, says he, you lay on too many of them, you'll make it like Hercules, dressed with his Mistress' ; which is the greatest of all Extravagancies. It is yet less capable, continues he, of those clear marks Poetry uses, to cause those motions in men's hearts, by moving the Passions. That History which is candid and sincere, and does not design to impose upon me, aught to leave my heart free, to judge the better of what it tells me. Eloquence, which by its Character, is an Art that imposes, may steal upon my Liberty, by striving to persuade me against my will. But an History which fixes itself purely within the Limits of Instruction, cannot handsomely make use of Figures, no further than to take from the Discourse its natural coldness, and to render it less tedious. It is only by these means that Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, keep up the Reader's mind: And Saluji, Livy and Mariana, never use Figures to impose upon the Public. Tacitus is not so scrupulous; he looks like a man who thinks of nothing but of dazzling your Eyes: The boldness of his Metaphors, and of his other Figures, make his Expressions troublesome and too high. 
x Caesar scrip●… Commen●… 〈…〉. Cic. in B●…t.  Caesar is upon another Extreme; It is a Discourse naked, without Figures, unprovided of all Attire. It is not but that a figured Expression, made on purpose, might please sometimes more than proper words, because it makes the Images livelier, and more agreeable to the mind, and gives strength and nobleness to the Discourse; and there is a boldness of Style, provided it be wise and judicious, which is admitted in places that want Life. But for Figures, to be well applied, be sure they be modest and familiar, not taking the flights of Poetry, or high Eloquence; Let them not be, says Lucian, too bright, nor too elaborate, unless in the Description of a Battle, or in a Speech, where an Historian may spread the Sails of his Eloquence, without soaring too high.   

XVII. The Passions.  
The Passions also make one of the great Ornaments of the Narration, when they are on purpose, and that they are touched judiciously. The Truth is, that they do not require that heat which ought to accompany the Stage: one must give them another Air; for they are not to be acted, but rehearsed. An Historian may make his Discourse passionate, but he ought not to be passionate himself. Therefore let him study men to the bottom, that he may lay open in his own mind the most private motions Passion is capable of raising there, that he may express its trouble and disorder; and that well applied, is very agreeable in a Narration. Thucydides has treated that part better than Herodotus; for he is more eloquent, and more pathetic, as 
y Dionys. Halicar. Epist. ad Pompey. & de Virt. Serm.  Dionysius Halycarnassaeus says, though Herodotus has sometimes more life. Hermogenes propounds an admirable Model of a tender, affectionate, and passionate Narration in the Death of Panthaea, Queen of Susiana, which is written in the Seventh Book of Xenophon's Cyropoedia. It is one of the finest places in that Author: All is said in a touching Strain. Photius assures us, that Josephus has a great Art in his Discourse, to move the Soul by the Passions. 
z Affectus eos praecipue, qui commendavit.  Quintilian affirms, that dulciores sunt, nemo Historicorum Livio magis Fab. l. 10. c. 1. Livy, of all Historians, has most signalised himself by those tender and delicate ways, whereby he has entertained the sweetest motions of the Soul: Affectus eos praecipue, qui dulciores sunt, nemo Historicorum Livio magis commendavit. Fabius, l. 10. c. 1. The Rape of the Sabins, those tender motions they showed at that time to take the Arms out of the hands of the Romans, their Husbands, and of the Sabins, their Fathers; the Death of Lucretia; Her Body exposed to Public View, to move the People to rebel against the Tarquins; Vetturia at her Son Cariolanus' Feet, to appease his Fury, when he came to besiege Rome; Virginia stabbed by her Father; the Consternation of Rome, after the Battle of Cannae; and a thousand other such things, touched in his History by the most tender Expressions imaginable, are fine Examples thereof. And it is in that Historian you ought to study the way of treating Passions as they ought to be in History; for he animates himself only in the places where heat is requisite. Tacitus does not mind how to manage his heat; he is always passionate; and even those Colours he uses, are always too strong: and because he is still too full in some things, and that he does not Copy after Nature, he does not move so much. I say nothing of the other Historians, the greatest number of whom have not understood the Passions, nor the way they ought to be represented in. It is a particular kind of Rhetoric, which requires a great Sense, and a very exact knowledge of Morality. But, if we intent to please, let us beware of those Dry Narrations, which are void of the moving strokes which Nature requires.   

XVIII. The Descriptions.  
That Affectation which appears in most Historians, in making Descriptions, has, in a manner, run down its use amongst judicious people. Nothing indeed is more childish, than a Description too much polished in a serious History. Young Authors run headlong into it, without distinction: You cannot be too circumspect in the use thereof. The Principle which is observable in it, is, That you must use it no more than is necessary to illustrate those things, the knowledge whereof is essential to what you writ. Such is the Description of the Isle of Capraea, lib. 4. Annal. Tacit. For it denotes the Reason Tiberius had to retire thither toward the latter end of his life, which renders it necessary; and being short, eloquent, and polished, without any Superfluity, one may say, that it is as it ought to be. The Description 
a Sal. in Bello Jugurt.  Sallust made of the place where Jugurtha was defeated by Metellus, serves to make one know the Fight better. You may see there the Virtue of the Roman, as well as the Experience of the Numidian King, by the advantage he had taken in possessing himself of the Hills: and all the recital of the Battle, is better understood, by that draught of the place which the Historian lays before your Eyes, as well as the Picture of that place, where Hannibal fought Minucius, Book 22. Annal. Livii, which is a place well touched. Descriptions might again be allowed in a great History, to make the Narration more pleasing, provided they be fitted well to the purpose, and free from that superfluity which commonly accompanies them, when given by young Historians. The desire they have to show their Parts that way, makes them fall in a pitiful childishness. Nay, 
b Luc. de Hist. conser.  Lucian finds fault with the too long Description which Thucydides makes of the Plague of Athens, in the Second Book of his History; and he is, perhaps, in the right: for that Author, though wise, runs into a Narration of that Disease too particular: But that Critic has more reason, when he complains of that impertinent Historian of his Time, who took so much delight in making great Descriptions of Mountains, of Cities, of Battles, which, he says, outdo in Coldness, all the Snows, and all the Ice of the North. And indeed, nothing is colder than a description which is too much studied. The Machine's of War used by Caesar, are described in his Commentaries, with a way of Circumstances too great for so mecanick a matter as that is. That Commander, whose Reputation in the knowledge of War, is established, seems to have a desire to be thought also a good Engineer; it looks too much affected for a man so judicious. The Description of Africa, in the War of Jugurtha in Sallust, is too full of Circumstances. There was no need of so many to mark the Limits of the Kingdoms of Atherbal and Jugurtha, which were then in dispute: What need was there to describe all that Country, and to make a distinction of the Manners of the People, with so much particularity? Descriptions must then be useful, exact, short, elegant, never studied, having no harshness in them, nor a vain desire of making your Wit appear more than your Subject, that your Descriptions may look well, as those of Livy do: 'twere fit you should make him your Pattern.   

XIX. Speeches.  
I find the Master's Opinions very much divided in that Point. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, have signalised themselves chief by their Speeches: Thucydides did better than any of them; the Speeches of the chiefest Actors in his History, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, Archidamus, and of all the Nations that speak by Deputies, are excellent Lessons for Speakers of all Ages; and Demosthenes form himself chief in that School. Polybius uses more Formalities: he doth not let Scipio speak so much, though he has reason to do it, having always been his Companion in War; 
c In Sermonibus effingendis Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Salustius nimii videntur: & causa est cur Caesar Commentarios scripsit, ut id omitteret, in quo alii laborant. Bisciol. l. 7. hor. subcess.  Caesar is still more sparing; for he makes hardly any Speeches at all, pretending they are against the Truth of History, and taking rather the part of writing bare Memories, that he may seem plainer in his Discourse. Dionysius Halycarnassaeus causes Brutus to make a long Exhortation upon the Death of Lucretia, that so he might excite the People to Revenge; and that Oration which he makes Valerius to speak upon the fittest form of Government in a State, Book 7. of his History, is very tedious. Josephus, Appian, Dio Cassius, and Procopius, are great Discoursers, as well as Thucydides and Xenophon, which took that Idea of speaking out of Homer: And in truth, if we examine the grounds of those Discourses, and, above all, of those that are made by Captains, to encourage the Soldiers to fight, we shall find but little likelihood in them. 
d Trogus reprehendit in Livio & Salustio, quod Conciones & Orationes operi suo inserendo, historiae modum excesserint. Just. l. 38.  Trogus reproaches Sallust and Livy, with a great deal of reason, for the immoderate excess of Speeches in their Histories: And indeed all those Discourses they attribute to great men, have but a false look: for out of what Memoires could they have taken them? Besides, a Warrior don't speak like one that makes it his business to speak in public. 
e Livius, Thucydides interserunt Conciones, quae nunquam abiis, quibus sunt attributae cognitae fuerunt. Scal. Poet. l. 1.  So when Pericles, in Thucydides, made an Oration in praise of his Soldiers that had been defeated and killed by the Boeotians: His Speech is feigned, as well as that which Catiline, in Sallust, makes to the Conspirators, which, in all probability, was secret, and not much studied. This is partly what 
f Ben. l. 2. de Hist.  Beny says, to improve that mistake. Thucydides, who was judicious, took care of that in his last Books, where he makes fewer Speeches than in the first. But it is a Natural Lesson; for we never write an History, but we bring in those that have a share in it, to make them speak; because nothing gives more vigour to a Narration, which is apt to grow cold by a Discourse too much polished. There is then a medium to be taken: A small Discourse made on purpose in an History, by one that bears a Character fit to make it, being also well suited to the Person and Subject under hand, may please, being put in its due place. But those formal Speeches at the Head of an Army ready to engage, and those Deliberations of a tedious prolixity, which are made upon those businesses that are spoken of, are almost out of fashion in good Histories: And the wisest choose to make their Hero speak things in few words, without engaging themselves to say set Speeches; as Livy, in the beginning of his History, has done by the Ambassadors which Romulus sent to his Neighbours. The most part of Salust's Speeches are very fine, but never to the purpose; for nothing is finer than Marius' Speech: It is the best Moral Lecture in the World upon Nobility; all is reasonable in it; and Antiquity has few of that Strength, to persuade People to embrace Virtue; but it is set in a wrong place; and the way that he makes Cato and Caesar give their Opinion in the Senate, how great soever it be, is not made proportionable to the rest of his History. Of that number is the long Discourse Dio makes in the 56 th' Book of his History, in praise of Marriage, and of a Batchelor's Life. But on the contrary, there is nothing firmer than Tyberius' Speech upon the Reformation of Luxury, Tacit. l. 3. Annal. No Historian ever made a Prince speak with more Dignity. The Speeches of Agrippa and of Moecenae to Augustus, wherein the one advises him to quit the Empire, and the other to keep it, are extreme fine in Dio Cassius; but they are so long, that they take up all the 52 d Book. In fine, to finish this Article, I am for 
g De Thucydide Orationes quas interposuit laudare soleo: sed imitari neque possim si velim, neque velim si possim. Cic. declare. Orat.  Cicero's Advice, who speaking of the Discourses of Thucydides, says wisely, I find them very fine, and I could not do so well if I would, nor would I do it if I could; which is all that can be well said upon that Subject; For, in fine, Speakers are always subject to be tedious: And Boccalinus is very pleasant, who condemns an Old Man to the Penance of reading one of Guichardin's Speeches, because he had read a Madrigal, with his Spectacles, upon Mount Parnassus.   

XX. The Characters of Persons.  
Pictures are a great Embellishment in History, when well drawn; but Romances have spoiled that way; for we make too many, and those such as do not well resemble: We lose time in describing, after our own Fancy, the Air of the Person: but this is not the thing 
h Explicentur hominum ipsorum non solum res gestae, sed vita ac natura. Cic. l. 2. de Orat. : For what does it signify to me to know whether Hannibal had good Teeth, provided that his Historian show me the greatness of his Genius; that he show me a bold and an active Spirit, vast Thoughts, a stout Heart, and all that animated by an extreme Ambition, and supported too by a strong Constitution, as 
i Libr. 21. Annal.  Livy has described it? So Sallust gives me a great Opinion of Catiline, by the Picture he makes of him at the beginning of his History: And when I see that desperate Soldier raise Armies in his Closet, go up to the Senate with a Silence that shows his Resolution to affront the Consul; to hear, unconcerned, his Invectives; to put Rome in Alarm, to make Italy tremble; to dare at last what no Particular ever durst; I am not surprised, after the Description the Historian has made me of him: I see a Man of Resolution, who stirs all things, without being seen, because he had taken well his measure. Pompey is far off with the best Troops of the Commonwealth; tied by a troublesome, though necessary War; Rome full of Factious People, the Provinces full of Malcontents: there's a general Disorder in the Commonwealth, through a Deluge of Vice which overwhelmed it; and every thing favours Catiline's Design, in the Conjuncture he found of putting it in execution. So one may guests what might happen of the War of Atherbal and Jugurtha, after Salust's Description of the Genius's of both; that I know to the bottom Sylla and Marius, according to the Idea he has given me of them, and that I take pleasure to see, issuing from their Spring which that Historian has discovered unto me, the Sequel of Jugurtha's great Actions, who gave so great disturbance to the Romans, after the Image he has drawn of that Captain. It is in that manner that the Ancients have mixed in their Histories those kind of Pictures of the Persons they designed to represent, to distinguish them from others; which is of great Ornament in a Piece, when done opportunely: For after a Character is well established by those Essential Features, which make a distinction of it, all goes on a great deal better; all things are better understood in the Narration: But it is a Masterpiece, to hit that Resemblance, which consists only in singular and imperceptible Features, which alone expresses Nature, and which one hardly meets with, unless he searches the hearts, and unwraps all their folds, that he may well know what is hidden. But what strength of Spirit, and what acuteness is requisite for that purpose? These things that follow are to be observed in it: First, the Picture ought to be real; and this was Xenophon's miscarriage in the Picture he made of Cyrus, wherein he gave nothing but the Idea of an Hero. Secondly, it ought to resemble: in that Tacitus has not been exact enough, minding to follow rather his Genius, than to imitate Nature; seeking more to make a good Picture, than to give the resemblance, provided that his Pictures please; as that of Sejanus, lib. 4. Annal. He cares but little whether they resemble or not; for he makes him a great deal worse than he is, if we may believe Paterculus, who praises him much. Thirdly, an Author ought to make only the Pictures of Persons of Consequence: There Sallust mistook in the Representation of Sempronia, who makes but an indifferent Figure in Catiline's Conspiracy. But althô too much time ought not to be spent in painting the External Parts of the Person, yet he may do it in some cases, when that may serve to make the Genius of those you speak of better understood. And indeed there are several ways of painting: 
k Lucretiam nocte sera non in convivio luxuque sed deditam lanae inter Ancillas sedentem inveniunt, l. 1. Annal.  Livy, speaking of Lucretia, so fair to her Husband's Eyes, without mentioning any thing of her Face, paints only her Virtue, and gives in one word, the greatest Idea that can be given of an honest Woman. Tacitus paints Tiberius' only by his Actions; that way he makes him to be known: 
l Oppressit in Tricliniis Parasytos suos violis & floribus, sicut animam aliqui efflaverint, Lampr. in Heliog.  Lampridius makes a right Picture of the Emperor Heliogabalus, saying, that he stifled his Parasites in heaps of Flowers, after he had drowned them with Wine: Procopius paints the Empress Theodora by her Gallantries: A drinking bout is sufficient to the Historian that writes Venceslaus' Life, to draw the Picture of that Emperor; who caused, says he, his Cook to be put upon the Spit, and roasted, because he had ill roasted a Pig which that Prince had a mind to eat. But the best way of painting, is to discover the secret motions of the heart, which makes the Person better known. It is from thence only that you ought to take those Features which make a distinction, that you may give a Character raised from its own ground. All the rest ought to be little accounted of in a serious History, which can endure nothing but what is judicious. I should not like also those Pictures which are copied, and taken here and there, as in Mariana; those he took out of Tacitus: Nor like that of Walstein, in 
m A French Author, who wrote part of Walstein's Conspiracy.  Sarrasin, which is made up, for the most part, of the finest Pictures in Antiquity. You ought not to lose time in Copies, when you draw after the Life, and when you think of making an Original. After all is done, History is the faithfullest Picture of those you speak of; nothing showing their Character better than the continuation of their Actions.   

XXI. The Reflections and Sentences.  
There is much to be said upon that Article, which makes all the delight of History, when delicately done: but there are many mistakes to be avoided in this Point, where you can never use too much Simplicity. Xenophon, Polybius, and Tacitus, are full of Reflections; Thucydides, Sallust, and Caesar, are more reserved. What Party must an Author choose amongst so great Examples of so different a Conduct, and in so important a matter. And, in truth, the Beauty which History hopes for from that kind of Ornament, requires to be managed with exact judgement: For, in fine, a man quits the Character of an Historian, who ought to tell naturally, what he has to say, without mingling, mal à propos, his own Conceits with it, when he moralizes upon all sorts of things, turning, without distinction, the Adventures which offer themselves, great and small, into curious and Political Reflections. Nothing also is more capable of adulterating Truth, or, at least, of perplexing it, than those fine thoughts, which some Authors shuffle in out of their own brains, and which a Reader often has not Wit enough to distinguish from the ground of History. It is then Wisdom in an Author to have no srivolous Fancies of his own, to play the Philosopher's part indifferently upon every thing that presents itself before him; as Ammianus Marcellinus, who acts too much like a Philosopher, by an Affectation of appearing Learned, which is but little understood. Livy goes on his way, stopping at nothing; he says what he knows of the things he speaks of, and leaves the Reader at liberty to make Reflections, without preventing him with his own: and when he does it, it is only with few words, but Noble and Great; 
n Deos esse non negligere humana, superbiae & crudelitati, & si seras, non leves poenas venire, l. 3. Annal.  as what he says of the Crime and Punishment of Appius, who had stolen away Virginia. It is a great Gift in an Author, to know how to furnish his Readers with Matters to apply their Minds to, to draw Consequences, and to give what Air he pleases to the things related. All Readers will have their liberty to think what they please upon what is presented to them, without being preengaged; and the use of that liberty is one of the greatest delights he takes in reading. Let us then retrench those deep and abstracted Reflections, if we mean to please; not labouring after much Spruceness in what we writ: Let us be more natural and candid; Let us say the Truth, without commenting upon it, if our Wit be strong enough to bear it; Let us, above all things, forbear to moralise upon Fortune, and her Unconstancies, a thing so common in Books; Let us not affect those Sententious Expressions, which have too much Gaiety and Ornament; Let us renounce those Witticisms, and false Sentiments, which Authors of a small Genius jingle with. If we mix in our Discourse some Reflections, let them be as natural as may be, and such as arise from the Subject itself; let them never be too fine, nor too elaborate; let them be more solid, though less ornamental; let them look more like the Arguments of a wise Politician, than the Affectation of an Orator; 
o Curandum ne sententiaeemineant extra corpus orationis expressae, Petr.  Let him be neither too frequent, nor too lose, but woven, as one may say, in the Body of your Work: In fine, let them never have that lofty look of Reflections, which give an ill Opinion of him that makes them. It is in that that Tacitus, Machiavelli, Paulus Jovius, Davila, and most part of the Italians and Spaniards, are excessive. But let none adventure to make those curious Reflections of Policy and Morality, unless he knows the Man entirely, the Illusions of his Spirit, and the Weakness of his Mind. It is only by that knowledge that good Historians are distinguished from those of a middle Rank, as Plutarch in his Lives. Sallust, though unaffected, preaches too much against the Corruptions and Ill Manners of his own Time; he is always angry with his Country, and always dissatisfied with the Government: he gives too bad an Opinion of the Commonwealth, through his Invectives, and his Reflections upon the Luxury of Rome. In truth, though there is nothing false in what he says, yet he runs out of his first thoughts. So Davila would make fewer Speeches, did he but remember that he is an Historian. It is necessary to understand Morality well, to make just Reflections; For true Morality is the ground of good Policy. Therefore Tacitus' Policy is often false, because his Morality is not true: either he makes Men appear too much corrupted, or he is not candid enough himself: There is nothing natural commonly in his Reflections, because nothing is innocent in them; he envenoms, and gives an ill turn to every thing: He has by that means spoiled many People, who imitate him in that Article, not being able to do it in any other. And this must be observed upon the use of Reflections in History. A Sentence may be put in the Mouth of a Character fit to speak Sentences: Mariana, as well as Strada, do not seem to manage that well. People also have no great affection for those stiff men which never yield to any thing, and who, to make what they say seem more important, multiply Sentences upon Sentences, Reflections upon Reflections, and by a ridiculous Gravity, will seem Cato's in small trifles. The too great subtlety in those refinings of Conjecture, is apt to degenerate in a false delicacy; and Reflections are good only when they least appear to be so.   

XXII. Digressions.  
Digressions have also their agreeableness, when they are made in fit times, and that they have nothing too wide, nor too lose, because it gives to a Narration a Variety so necessary to make it agreeable; but they ought to be wisely mixed. An Author is apt to err when he goes from his Subject; for one whose head is not strong enough changes easily; and to quit your matter without precaution, to seek Adventures, and carry your Reader abroad, does not belong so much to an Historian, as to a Writer of Adventures, who sticks upon every thing he finds to stuff up his Relation. He takes Cities, he fights Battles, he finds Adventures every where; as Herodotus, who continually goes from his Text, by his too frequent, and often forced Digressions; though he took Example by Homer, who is indeed a great Master; for though he soars often, he goes nevertheless straight enough to his Mark, without losing time in things out of season. Thucydides has a better Order than Herodotus; he confines himself strictly to his Subject: The Conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogyton, in the Sixth Book, is one of those Narrations wherein he has excelled most. Xenophon endeavours to imitate him: If he forgets himself sometimes, as he has done, lib. 5. of the History of Cyrus, in the Adventure concerning Panthaea, yet that Adventure has a natural Relation to the Body of his History; Panthaea having been taken by Cyrus, in the Overthrow of the Assyrians, and Abradatus, her Husband, by that means coming to Cyrus' side, and becoming one of the chiefest of his Army. The plain Truth is, I would not be responsible for the other Digressions of that Author, which are not quite so well coupled to his Subject in his other Works. 
p Polybius & Salustius ita peccarunt, ut nullam unquam veniam impetrarint dum digrediuntur, etc. Ex Sebast. Macr.  Polybius has frequent Digressions upon Policy, knowledge of Arms, and upon the Laws of History, which do not appear very necessary: Sallust sometimes commits the same Fault, wherein a Modern Critic blames them both. Photius praises much the Digression of Dionysius Halycarnassaeus, lib. 7. to describe the Consequence of Aristodemus' Tyranny. The Question about the Phoenix, lib. 6. Annal. Tacit. upon the news which came to Rome, of a Phoenix which had appeared in Egypt, under the Reign of Tiberius, is according to the Rules of a just Digression: The Question is examined by the several Opinions of the Naturalists upon that Bird; his Qualities, his Shape, all is described there in few words. A Digression of that kind set in a due place, is of great Ornament to a Narration, and that helps to spur the Curiosity of a Reader, and to rouse his Spirits. Nothing also in Mariana's History contributes so much to that Air of greatness which it has, as the Art which he has of bringing into it, by way of Digression, all that has happened considerable in the World, of admirable inefabulous Ages, of remarkables in Greece, in Sicily, in the Roman Empire; a pretty particular Account of the Commonwealth of Carthage, which is not where else better than it is there; the Sieges of Saguntus and Numancia, the Passage of Hannibal into Italy, the Series of Emperors, the Birth of Christianity, the Preaching of the Gospel, the Conquests of the Arabians, and many other things which look great. He has a Genius which is altogether for great matters, which hangs always some way or other to the Spanish History. No Historian ever honoured his Country so much by any Work; for he has given his Country the Honour of every great thing that was ever done in the World. But as there are but few Spirits strong enough to follow the Stream of an History, without taking breath, and tying themselves up to their Subject, without going out of it; so there are few Historians but will sometimes forget themselves, by doing the contrary in their Digressions. I will not take the pains to mark them; they every where occur; nothing being scarcer than that exact sense, which knows how to apply itself to its Subject: I shall only say, that 
q Nihil minus quaeritum à principio hujus operis, quam ut plus justo abrerum ordine declinarem varietatibusque distinguendo opera, legentibus veluti diverticula quaererem, l. 9 Annal.  Livy has shunned nothing with more care than those byways which led him from his matter, as himself declares it, nothing being less judicious. But in our Historians, the same ridiculous humour may still be found, which 
r Luc. de Conser. Hist.  Lucian met with in his time, in them that wrote the Parthian War, who mixed in their Narrations the foolishest things in the World, to render them more diverting, running from Country to Country, from Age to Age, from one Adventure to another, without any distinction. You must then lay it down as a certain and indispensable Rule, That Digressions ought to be connected always, by somewhat or other, to the Principal Subject in hand, as 
s Statuit non attingere externa, nisi qua Romanis coherent rebus, Luc. l. 39 Annal.  that Judicious Historian we spoke of just now has always done; And you ought to examine well, whether in the bottom they have no natural antipathy; for if they have, they are not fit to be used; for nothing is more essential to the Digression, than the Affinity it ought to have with the Subject: The great Secret is, to know exactly how far it ought to go; for it has its Natural Limits, which are not to be passed. That which renders the Proportion difficult, is, that the Extent of them ought not always to be the same; for it must be great or small, more or less, according to the Relation it has to the chief part of History; and the making a right Judgement here, is the Rock upon which all Historians dash; for there are few which in their Digressions exceed not due bounds, it being the greatest difficulty to keep them exactly, and to rule themselves. In that there is a great deal to be said against Mariana, who in the beginning of his History has taken many ways to arrive at his Point: He has need of an Apology upon that, which I do not pretend to justify him in. The only Model a Writer may propose to himself in this, is 
t Ut quaerere libeat qui eventus Romanis Rebus, si cum Alexandro foret bellatum, futurus fuerit, Annal. l. 9  Livy, who would not have left the Roman History to tell his Mind upon the Success of Alexander's Arms, had he come into Italy, without great precautions, and satisfying the Reader's mind with ample Excuses: The Discourse he makes upon it is very curious, and not at all out of season.   

XXIII. Eloquence fit in History.  
History ought to be Eloquent, and not tedious: In that only its Art consists; that is its common Effect. But there is an extraordinary Effect, known but by few people, to say nothing, though true, but what has the Air of Truth, to gain Credit in the most difficult things to be believed. Eloquence, which knows how to give to things the Air which may render them acceptable, aught to be employed about it. And the setting of things in that admirable Order, which makes them probable, is its chiefest work; The Matter is given to the Historian in Memoires, which People furnish him with; but it is his business to lay them together, and to do it well: He must not think so much what he says, as to the manner of saying it; for in this, as in all other parts of Eloquence, the Method is all; That is properly the use the Historian ought to make of Eloquence, which alone sets every thing in its place. It is the great Artifice of Thucydides, says 
u Thucydides omnes dicendi artificio vincit, Cic. l. 2. de Orat.  Cicero, which has surpassed all the other Historians by his Eloquence. 
w Tito Livio mirae facundiae viro, Fab. l. 8. c. 1.  Quintilian speaks of that of Livy with admiration. It is only by that admirable Quality that those Two Great Men have distinguished themselves so much from the Commonalty of other Historians; for it is Eloquence which gives a man the way of explaining himself. He persuades best, who explains himself in the easiest manner; it is persuasion only which gives to things that colour of Truth, which they have by no other way but by that turn which is given them, and by the light they are set in. So nothing is more eloquent than the Picture Sallust makes of the Condition which Rome was in, when Catiline took up the Design of making himself Master of it: And when that admirable Author represents the Commonwealth corrupted through Luxury and Avarice, weakened under the weight of its own greatness; they are the finest Expressions which can be found in History: It is in those Images your Art must show itself, if you have any; and the Historians of the first Rate are full of them. It is that Eloquence which ought to be mixed with History, to animate it with its flame and Spirit; for without it all is but languishing: and those several turns one ought to embellish a Narration with, to make it agreeable; all the Art of Transitions, those so tender and passionate motions which go to the heart, that Connexion of the most Memorable Actions; that ordering of Circumstances, and those Embellishments which raise the Admiration, are nothing but the Effects of that singular Eloquence which is proper to History, which ought sometimes to raise itself, and soar aloft, when occasion requires it. But it is the Effect of an Historian's Judgement, to distinguish those places. A kind of Eloquence did rule over the Greeks and the Romans too, in the Speeches of those which were to speak, which was only mere Ostentation, showing the Wit of the Historian, rather than the Truth of History; and in that the Authors thought rather to amuse the people, than to instruct them. That Eloquence is out of fashion among the wise Moderns, because it had an affected way; and those who have any Judgement, love only what is natural. The Prefaces of 
x Salustius in bello Jugurthino & Catilinario nihil ad Historiam pertinentibus principiis usus est, Fab. l. 10. c. 8.  Sallust, which are great Discourses, full of Sense, and very Eloquent, seem to me of that kind; They are common places, without any reference to his History. That Author, perhaps, had some Reserve, which he made use of in times of need; as 
y Habeo Volumen proemiorum, ex eo eligere soleo cum aliquod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 institui, ad Atticum l. 16. ep 6.  Tully did, according to his own Confession. I have always, says he, a Volume of Prefaces ready against I have need of 'em. I would not have suspected him of so much precaution, had not he himself bragged of it. That may be good for an Orator that speaks always publicly, and has not always leisure to prepare himself; but it is not to be endured in History, where the Author is Master both of himself and his Time: For, to conclude, all those Discourses, though never so fine of themselves, cease to be so, as soon as they are out of their places, and as soon as any Affectation appears: And this is what may be said upon the Eloquence of History.   

XXIV. The other Ornaments which one may apply in History.  
There may also be other Ornaments fit to be put in History, to make it more pleasant, either when it is dull, and when it is too plain, by overlong Narrations, which are too much like one another: but, of those Ornaments, the most apparent are not always the most essential: All is not Gold that glitters. A Mind that is bridled up does not take delight in too much finery; and that ought to engage a Learned Man to manage those Ornaments without Prodigality, and accommodate himself to men's Capacity, which too great a brightness dazzles; besides that those Ornaments crowded one upon another, surprise more than they please. There are hidden ones, which give greater satisfaction to curious people; and though they escape others notice, they do not escape theirs; you may every moment discover new Charms which uphold them, and which are lasting, more than those which give but a glance, and die. Those kind of Ornaments consist sometimes of eloquent or witty turns, which in a mann●r are surprising, and cast an unlooked for Effect on the places they are put in; whereof here are some Examples: Porsenna, King of Clusium, besieges Rome: C. Mutius, moved with the danger he sees his Country in by so close a Siege, goes into Porsenna's Camp, kills his Secretary close by him, thinking to have killed him: The Murderer is seized; they order a Pan of fire to be brought, to force him to declare his Associates by the Torment of the fire. That Young Man, full of Courage, in cold Blood, puts his hand in the fire, and without any alteration in his Countenance, let it be quite burnt upon the hot Embers; speaking in this manner to the King: 
z Sentias quam vile corpus sit iis, quam magnam gloriam vident. Tit. Liv. l. 2. Annal.  See how those that are possessed with true Glory, despise their own Carcase. That spoken with a firm Countenance, altars the face of things; the Murderer, though abominable and odious, casts an admiration on the Spirits of them that were present; they look upon him with Respect, and they send him home with Praises, in the same moment that they were preparing to make him end his Life in cruel Tortures. A resolute word only makes that change; and such a word well placed, is a great Ornament in a Narration, and has a marvellous Effect. So upon Fabius' retaking Tarentum, Hannibal, though vanquished, spoke this fine Saying, which looked as though he had still been victorious, praising himself, to raise his Enemy the more: 
* Et Romani suum habent Annibalem, l. 27. Annal.  The Romans, said he, have also at last their Hannibal. That was a proud way of submitting himself. Those say are frequent in that Historian. Nothing also gives more the Idea of those who speak so, when they speak well, nor of him that makes them speak, as when he does it on purpose. Here is one of another kind, taken out of Tacitus, in that famous Feast Massalina made to her Lover: In the heat of the rejoicing, and of the Debauchery of that Feast, they got an Idiot, whose Name was Valens, to climb up to the top of a Tree; and they asked him what he saw: A Tempest, said he, which gathers in the Air, and comes from Ostium. That word, spoken by a Fool, cast a coldness and sorrow upon the People's Spirits, which disturbed all things, though spoken without design; for it was a Prognostication of the Emperor's return, which happened a few days after, and caused the Empress to be stabbed, tired with her infamous Life. Those marvellous say are very acceptable in History, being fit to rouse up the Reader's Mind by something which is sharp. There are Thousands of others which an Historian employs to embellish his Work, and which have escaped my Memory: and I do not pretend to say all that is good in this kind. It is enough to mark those which can give another face to Affairs; to search other Conjectures, to give way to other Ideas, and to other Sentiments: In a word, all those fine say, capable of causing some kind of revolution in the Reader's Mind, to give him Action, and Motion too, being always truly fine, are never out of use. The business is to place them so, that they may appear incorporated in a Narration, to play all their part in it; that is to say, to make the matter pleasant, when, of itself, it is barren and disagreeable.   

XXV. The Sentiments which ought to be allowed in History.  
There are Sentiments which are fit for the Theatre, and are not so for History, because Poetry says things as they should be; History says them as they are. So those Historians, which give their Heroes such exquisite Sentiments, are not always the most judicious; and whatever is not grounded upon good sense, be it never so fine, is not the best. So that Quintus Curtius is not always in the right, to represent Alexander so admirable. He does not make him act by the measure of Prudence, but always puts him upon difficult and perilous Adventures: Danger charms him; He is not fond of Conquests, but of the Glory of Conquering: He might surprise Darius, by falling upon him in the Nighttime, and that way hid his Weakness, the Enemy's Army being twice in number bigger than his own: But that Great Man, who cares less to overcome, than to make People admire his Bravery, attacks the King of Persia in the middle of the Day; resolved rather to lose his Life gloriously, than to overcome by surprisal. Darius, after his Overthrow, proffers to divide Asia with him, and offers him his Daughter in Marriage; Alexander chooses rather to pursue his Honour through Perils, than to become Master with so much Tranquillity: He does not hearken to those Proposals; he will accept of nothing but what is extraordinary. His Historian does him a great deal of Honour: sure, a little likelihood would have done well mixed with so much Glory: Does not he make his Hero more Foolhardy than wise, and more adventurous than ambitious? Without doubt he sound that way finer; but withal, he has given us reason to doubt, whether it is a Romance, or an History, which he has left us; for he bushes things too far. So important it is for an Author in all things to make Reason his Standard, and to follow rather the Nature of things, than the fine Imaginations of his own Wit. Let not History then authorise the ridiculous Conceits of false Glory, which causes vain People to commit so many Errors, the most part of which contributes little to true Honour, because they have no sense of it. Let it not attribute to a Mounte-bank the Sentiments of a solid man, nor the Virtues of a Romantic Hero to a true Knight. Great men are subject to form to themselves Ideas of Glory, after their own fancy, and according to the failing of their Vanity. But the Public Interest ought to be dearer to him who governs, than his own Glory: And the true Honour of a great Prince, is to gain the People's Hearts rather than their Fears. Those are the Sentiments which ought to reign most in History, that it may become a Lesson of Clemency to Princes, and a Pattern of Reason and good Sense to all People. Let not an Historian therefore be mistaken; let him first distinguish true Honour from false, and in the Maxims of this Life praise only what is good; Let him clear the People's Errors, without becoming himself a Slave to Popular Sentiments: Let him never suffer himself to judge of things by their Events, without running up to their Spring; but let him open their very Principles: Let him be careful of doing Justice to the true and pretended Merit, that he may not impose on Posterity, which gives Credit to what is said, without any examination, and sticks to the Litteral Sense: Let him never show great Events, without giving notice of Causes, and without discovering their true Motives. Sometimes it is nothing, or at least, but little; but People lack to see great things come from small Principles, as Dionysius Halicarnassaeus teaches in the Fifth Book of his History, on the occasion of the Revolution of Government from the Kings of Rome, which happened through the Insolence of Young 
* T. Liv. l. 1. Ann.  Tarquin, and the Pride of his Father. That is the Spirit which ought to reign in History, and the Maxim which must be observed therein. Let us see its Genius.   

XXVI. How the Genius of an Historian must be.  
Nothing can be writ considerable in History, without a Genius; that makes all in that Art, as well as in others; and it is only that way that Historians distinguish themselves from one another. A small Genius will make but little of a great Subject; and he that has a great Genius, will make a small Subject appear great. 
* Arduum videturres gestas scribere, quod facta dictis exaequanda sunt, Sallust. proem. Bell. Catil.  To write History well therefore, a man must have an universal Genius, capable of great Ideas, to form to himself a great Model, and great Designs. History is a thing of importance 
† Magnum quid Historiam recte scribere, & summis Oratoris proprium, Cic. l. 2. de Orat. , says Cicero, and the business of a Man above the Common Level. And when Lucian, who was one of the finest Wits of his Age, which produced so many great men, confesses, that his Genius was too weak for History, and to attain to that Perfection which it requires. He frights me, by creating in me a just apprehension of the difficulty which attends it: For if that Author, which has written nothing but what is admirable, and gives Rules so full of good sense for the writing of History, acknowledges that he is not capable of sustaining the weight of so great a work, what will become of those that in one day set up for Historians, without any knowledge of what is Essential in History, as he says it happened in that War in Armenia, which produced so many Authors, through an Itch of writing, which at that time was a common Disease? But the Times are changed, says he; nothing is more difficult than for a man to compile a Work which all future Ages may esteem, as Thucydides has done. For what strength of Spirit is requisite to speak the Truth, without making Paraphrases, as those do, who have not Souls great enough to be clear and candid, and to speak things as they are? What firmness to unmask Vice, naturally disguised with Dissimulation? What Sagacity to discover the bottom of the Genius of them we speak of, without sticking to the exterior part of the Person, which seldom signifies any thing? But when the business is to distinguish People and Times by what is essential in their Characters, how necessary is a clear and distinguishing head? As for Example, in relating the Civil Wars of Rome, not to confound the Spirit of the Commonwealth with that of Monarchy; the absoluteness of the one with the Dependency of the other; not to write the Reign of Lewis the Fourteenth, which is no way addicted to Superstition, like that of Lewis the Eleventh, whose Character was Superstition itself; not to represent Charles the Great, like Henry the Third, but to mark the Times and the Persons by the difference there is between them. What integrity, exactly to do Justice to Vice and Virtue, to distinguish the true from the pretended Merit, and to use one's self to weigh the Actions, without any regard to the Persons? What Judgement, to take always the right side, to turn things to the right sense, to choose always what is most solid; to interpose your Judgement upon the matter in agitation, without forcing the Reader, by any prejudices, to touch tender Points with that niceness of Wit which can only be the Effect of an exquisite sense; not to load your Discourse with too much Matter, which might chance to spoil the Spirit of it, without giving way to any Reflection whatsoever, made either by you, or any other Reader; to know how to find the true knot in every business, without mistaking yourself in its explanation; not to deliver great Actions upon frivolous Motives; not to hid false Thoughts under a florid Expression; to avoid any thing which seems studied and forced, and to follow in all things that beam of light and understanding which gives an Idea of the discerning Faculty of the Historian, by giving a good Opinion of his Capacities. So that the most necessary part in History is Judgement. An Orator may forget himself in the flights of his Eloquence, and venture bold strokes, which may pass upon a multitude of People, who are pleased with nothing more than boldness. A Poet may ramble from his Text, and has no great necessity to be always wise. The Historian, who speaks only in cold Blood, ought always to be Master of himself, and to say nothing but what is just nothing, in fine, requires so much Sense, so much Reason, so much Wit and Judgement, and so many other Qualities, to attain to perfection, as History; and after all is done, an happy Understanding, endued with all those Perfections, is not sufficient, without a great knowledge of the World. It was only the Conversation Polybius had with Scipio and Lelius, that made him so able an Historian. We have in Thucydides and Livy accomplished Patterns of that Genius required in History. Antiquity has nothing more finished in that kind. There is hardly any thing wanting in the one, or in the other, but that Thucydides is yet more sincere than Livy, and the last more natural than the first. Tacitus is admirable in his way; Lipsius prefers him before all others: Every body is not of his Opinion. One may say in general, That he is an Historian of a particular Rank, who has a great deal of agreeableness amongst great failings; but his defects are somewhat hidden under a greatness of Genius which shines in all he says, and under a loftiness not well to be described, which raise him above many Authors more exact, and more natural than himself. He has his Party and his Admirers. It is true, that he pleases men of Fancy and Imagination, but not those that have most Judgement, nor those that love good Sense rather than Flourishes. Among Moderns, I find Mariana, Davila, Fra Paolo, have an admirable Genius for History. Mariana has the gift of thinking, and of saying nobly what he thinks and speaks, and of giving a Character of greatness to what runs in his Mind. Davila brings good Circumstances of things, discourses justly enough upon the Subjects he treats of, and carries on his Discourse in a continued Strain, which gives him that obliging Air which he has above others. Fra Paolo, in his History of the Council of Trent, gives what Colours he pleases to what he says: No body ever had that Art in a more eminent degree. He shows also a great Capacity, in searching to the bottom the Matters of Learning which he has in hand, to give his Readers a perfect knowledge thereof: No body ever writ with more Skill, nor with more Wit, and never with less Justice and Truth. He is a passionate man, who employed all his Art in hiding his Passion: He made a jest in every thing, that he might not be thought to be angry; but he falls into another Defect: He raileth too much, in a Subject so serious as his is; for his Passion is seen in every thing he speaks. So that Historian, with his great Genius, has the most Vicious Character that can be in the way of writing History, where nothing is less pardonable than Enmity. An Historian is no longer believed, when once he is thought too passionate; which gives occasion of examining the Honesty which is necessary for him that pretends to write.   

XXVII. The Historians Morality.  
As every one ought to lay down to himself a Rule of Morality, according to his Genius, the Historian's Mind is known by his Principles. You must first of all take it for granted, that there are but few who have hearts noble enough, neither to fear nor hope for any thing; and who will value Truth above Interest, which is the most general Spring of all the wrong Judgements men make in things they speak of. This is what you ought to think upon first, when you take upon you to instruct the Public; and it is the chiefest Maxim an Historian ought to propose to himself. That being well established, he ought to think only to get Credit in People's good Opinion, and to give a Colour of Truth to all he says. It is that chief to which all his endeavours ought to tend; which he will never effect, but by establishing his Reputation: And it is not by Protestations of being sincere, that he shall demonstrate his Integrity: It is by making appear in all his words, the uprightness of his heart, and the honesty of his mind. Therefore nothing ought to come from him but what has the stamp of Equity and Reason. The Love he ought to have for Truth, aught to be the Rules of all his Expressions, and of all his Ideas. 
* Ne qua suspicio gratiae sit, ne qua simultatis, Cic. de Orat.  Let him always speak like an honest man; let him never speak any thing that can injure Chastity or Integrity; let him keep close to the Sentiments which the severest Honour can inspire; and let nothing ever appear in his words that may raise a question of his Probity and Truth; let him speak so that People may believe him to speak true as often as he speaks, through an assurance, that he is not capable of imposing. No man can ever err with so good Principles. It is by so pure a Method that Thucydides did set up the Reputation of his sincerity through all following Ages, and that he has deserved the Credit of all People. It is his Zeal for Religion, and Respect for the Gods, which appears in all Xenophon's Books, that engages People not to question what he says, being persuaded, that a man, who has the Love of Piety so deeply engraven in his heart, cannot lie. Polybius takes more liberty: He relates, as Fables, the Sentiments People had of the Gods, and of Hell; thinking, that way, to destroy them. And it is rather by his Honesty that Livy persuades, than by his great Capacity: through all the Intrigues, Interests, Passions, and other Extravagancies of those men he speaks of, there appears a Probity, which shows him as well honest as a good Historian, One may perceive in the most hidden parts of the Hearts of those he describes, the bottom of his own; and amongst the false lights he discovers in their Conduct, he never has any false aims; he judges of all things rightly, his Judgement being as true as his Intentions are just. Tacitus is not of that Character; he is a great shuffler, who hides a very bad Mind under a very great Wit: he mistakes always true Merit, because he hardly knows any other than that of Ability; and it is Policy more than Truth, makes him speak, besides his want of Charity towards his Neighbour: When he speaks of the Gods, he shows neither Piety nor Religion, as is seen in his Discourse upon Fate against Providence, lib. 6. Annal. and imputes all things to Fortune, and the Stars, concerning Trasullus, ginger to Tiberius, who was become his Secretary at Capraea. So difficult it is for an ill man to be a good Historian; for they are almost the same Principles of the one and of the other. So when an Author takes his Pen, he takes upon himself the Character of a Public Man; and he strips himself of that Honour, whensoever he takes up the Sentiments of a Private Person, to regard himself, and to revenge his own quarrels; as Procopius, who being dissatisfied with the Emperor Justinian, and the Empress Theodora, gives way to his own Passion, and corrupts Truth: Or, to follow private prejudices, as Eusebius and Theodorite, which made use of their Histories to establish their own Errors: Or, to flatter those whom you mean to please, as Buchanan, who in his History of Scotland, blemishes the Honour of Mary, to gratify Queen Elizabeth; and as Fra Paolo, who makes his History of the Council of Trent a satire against the Church of Rome, and Religion; where he shows a Chain of Invectives upon Invectives, to revenge himself upon the Pope, because he had not made him a Cardinal, after the hopes he had given him of it. Paulus Jovius was a man that pursued his Interests, Pensioner to Charles the Fifth, unjust, malicious, a great Flatterer: The Pictures he made of the most considerable Persons in his History, are Pieces which he picked up to compose the Lives of Illustrious Men, on purpose to get Money; they are done according as he was paid for them. Guichardin is angry with France; Sandoval makes Charles the Fifth a most Catholic Prince, whilst that Monarch foments' Heresy in Germany: all this because Paulus the Third had vexed him. Cabrera praises Philip the Second for his Piety, who favoured Elizabeth against Mary of Scotland, which he hindered from being Queen, because she favoured the French; and so overthrew the Catholic Religion in England. Herrera is a Fansaroon, and is partial to his Nation. In fine, there are hardly any Historians, but have their own Inclinations and A versions: It goes hard with them to alter their Sentiments, and they make Eulogiums by Directions, or Satyrs, as their own Minds are disposed. 
Marcellin. in ejus Vita.  There are but few like Thucydides, who by a Principle of Right and Equity, praises Pericles, as he deserves, though he had used him very ill; and does always Justice to the Athenians, who banished him to Thracia, where he died. It is a man without Passions, who proposes to himself only the Judgement of Posterity, for the Mark he aims at, and his Work, and who has no other desire than that of Truth; wherein he is an honester man than all others; for he never renounces his Probity. Livy favours Pompey more than Caesar, Dio favours Caesar more than Pompey. Ammianus Marcellinus is an everlasting Worshipper of Julian the Apostate, but cries out always against Valentinian, his Successor, because he was a Christian. Eusebius never shows Constantine but on the right side; Zozimus shows him always the other way. Procopius made his Idol of Bellizary, Egynhart of Charles the Great, Sandoval of Charles the Fifth, Strada of Alexander Farneze: In a word, each Historian makes himself an Hero after his own palate, whom he looks upon as his Creature; and that he might make him appear the better, he studies to make him more admirable. It is this which renders most Histoays suspicious, all Historians being passionate; and there being hardly any sincere ones, because there are few disinterested. Those that are above Interest, let themselves be blinded with the desire of pleasing; and the care they have of their Reputation, leads them into other Extremes. 
* Josephus non tam studebat vera scribere, quam credibilia: hac causa fuit cur praeterierit miracula, quod apud Infideles fidem non erant habitum, & narravit fabulas, quas putavit iis magis probabiles futuras. Leo Cass. disp. de transl. sacr. leg. c. 36.  Josephus in the History of the Jews, suppresses true Miracles, to manage the Gentiles, who would not have believed them; and supposes things less true, because he thought them fit for the palates, and according to their apprehension. An Historian ruins himself, if he thinks to be established that way: you must say things as they are; woe to the unbelievers: For nothing is worse in a man who professes to give an account of Truth to the Public, than to profane it thus. In fine, let nothing slavish appear, nor of Cowardice, in the Sentiments or Inclinations of the Historian; for nothing gives a worse Opinion of his Probity. But though I do not approve the Flatterers of Great men, as Eusebius, who shows nothing in Constantine but what deserves praises, who nevertheless had great failings; my Opinion is, that they ought to be forgiven in some things: For though one ought to speak nothing but what is true, yet he ought not to say all the Truth. Quintus Curtius might have let alone the Infamies he related of Alexander. There are some privileged Heads which a body ought to respect; let us speak of them handsomely, and not irreverently: We may expose their Faults, but it must be in a way that does not scandalise their Dignity, nor hurt the Respect due to their Grandeur. Tacitus says so many dirty things of Tiberius, that Boccalinus cannot suffer him. That which Lampridius tells of the Emperor's Heliogabalus and Caracalla, makes his History contemptible; and Platina shows but little judgement in his manner of treating the Popes. All the World will not be of my side, but wise men will; and I am persuaded, that what Merit soever there is in being sincere, a man would render himself ridiculous to be so in all things. But, as an Author never praises well, unless he does it nicely, so he that bestows his Commendation upon meaner Actions, and not upon those which are essential, and which appear praiseworthy, shall always find the Public out of humour, because it will never endure those praises which it does not find justly bestowed: Therefore good Sense advises never to praise, but by a sincere account of praisable Actions. 
* Luc. de Conser. Hist.  All the World knows the Adventure of Aristobulus, one of the Captains of Alexander, who read to him the History of the Battle which that Prince fought against Porus. Alexander, who was then in his Barge upon Hydaspus, enraged with the Flatteries of that Historian, snatched the Book out of his hands, and threw it into the River; adding, that he deserved to be served so too, for being so impudent as to praise him so ill, by attributing to him false Conquests, as if there had been want of true ones. This is very near the Morality I could wish in an Historian; or, at least, it would be my Principle, in case I had the Fancy to write History, and that I were of a Genius good enough for it. I would, in fine, be so modest, that there might appear Honesty, and never Vanity in my Sentiments; which makes me to have no patience with the Extravagancy of that Historian Photius speaks of, who preparing himself to write the History of Alexander, promises, that his Style shall not be worse than the Actions of his Hero. After all is done, it makes a man lose almost the Fancy of writing, if he has any Sense, when he sees the judgement Dionysius Halicarnassaeus made of Thucydides' History; for there is no judicious Author, but that Critic will make him tremble. These are the Notions I got to myself in reading Histories. I am not so vain as to pretend to give them for Maxims: They are only thoughts, and perhaps but ill digested, which may become good by the good use that may be made of them. Here follow the Sentiments one may have upon the most considerable Historians.   

XXVIII. Judgement of Historians.  
Herodotus is the first who has given a reasonable form to History; and his merit is, to have led the way to others. His Style is pure and eloquent. 
* Dulcis, candidus, fusus Herodotus. Fab. l. 10. c. 1. Athen. 1. 3.  Athenaeus praises him for the Charms of his Discourse. His Subject is great and vast; for it compasses Nations, Kingdoms, Empires; the Affairs of Europe and Asia. He is not very exact in what he says, because he contains too much matter; but I find in him a sincerity which is not very common, because he uses Greeks and Barbarians, his own Countrymen and Strangers, without any show of Partiality. 
* Platarch. de malign. Herod.  I find Plutarch deals with him too rigorously, when he makes him to have an ill meaning in most part of his Conjectures; but it is only Envy and Revenge makes him use him so, because he used ill his Country of Boeotia, in his History. 
* Laudatur ab omnibus ut rerum explicator sincerus & gravis; hujus nemo neque verborum, neque sententiarum gravitatem imitatur. Cic. de oped. Orar.  Thucydides is exact in his way of writing, faithful in things he relates, sincere, and not swayed by Interest: he has Greatness, Nobleness, Majesty in his Style; he is always strict, but his strictness has nothing but what is great in it: The Truth is, that his Subject is lesser, and more limited than that of Herodotus. It is only through a Spirit of Partiality, that Dionysius Halicarnassaeus prefers Herodotus before Thucydides, the first being his Countryman: For my own part, I find him the most accomplished Historian among the Greeks. Xenophon is pure in his Language, Natural, agreeable in his Composition; his Mind is easy, rich, full of a deep knowledge, a clear imagination, a just turn; but he is neither great nor elevated. Good Manners are not always well observed in his History, where he makes ignorant and brutish People speak like Philosophers. Cicero tells us, that Scipio could not part with him, when once he had him in his hands: Longinus gives it as his Character, That he conceived things happily. After all is done, he is a well-accomplished Historian; and it was by the reading of his History, that Scipio and Lucullus became so great Captains. Polybius discourses well; he is provided with good and fine Materials, but he does not manage them so well as the others I spoke of but now: He ought, for all that, to be praised for the Idea Brutus had of him, who at the height of his Misfortunes, did pass whole Nights in the reading and studying of them. His Design is not so much to write an History, as an Instruction how to govern a Country, as he himself says at the end of his First Book; and he leaves there, in a manner, the Character of an Historian, which obliges him to make a kind of an Apology in the beginning of the Ninth Book, about his way of writing History: his Style is much neglected. Dionysius Halycarnassaeus shows, in his Book of Roman Antiquities, a deep Sense, Learning and Conduct, which is not common; he is exact, diligent and judicious, truer than Livy, and of great weight: But, to conclude, he is very tedious in his Speeches. Diodorus Siculus is a man of great Character; but he contains too many things, pretending to make an Abridgement of Philistus, of Timaeus, of calisthenes, of Theopompus, and others. Philo and Josephus are Authors of an extraordinary Eloquence: They were both Jews, who had too great a desire to please Pagans, by accommodating themselves like Slaves to their Humour and Taste. Arrian does but Copy Xenophon, and is an affected Imitator of his ways: he has made Seven Books of the Conquests of Alexander, as Xenophon did of Cyrus': Appianus dabbled in all the Greek Historians, and with that hodgepodge has made to himself a Style which resembles no bodies. Scaliger calls him the Thief of Histories; he took the best of his Book out of Plutarch's: but, after all, there is in him a vast deal of matter. Dio Cassius cracked his Credit with almost every body, because of the extraordinary things which he writes without any distinction: for instead of cleaving strictly to the Truth, he runs from the very appearance of it, in that place of the 66 th' Book of his History, where he says, That Vespasian cured a blind man by spitting upon his Eyes. Procopius is exact in what he says, because he accompanied Bellisarius in the Wars, and was an Eye-witness of his great Actions: but he is too dry in his History of Persia, which looks more like a Journal than History. He satisfied his own Fancy by writing that private History; but his Modesty was great in his suppressing it: for the thing which he took pains to hid during his Life, was made public after his Death; wherein he is not altogether inexcusable. Most part of those who have written the Histary of Byzantium, either took Copies one by another, as Agathias, Cedrenus, John Curopalatus; or are not very exact; and they come nothing near the Dignity, the Nobleness, the Distinguishing, and the Faithfulness of the Ancient Greeks. 
* Subtilissimus brevitatis artifex Salustius, proprietatum in verbis retinentissimus. Gell.  Amongst the Latins, Sallust looks great, exact, of an admirable Judgement. No body ever expressed the sensible, exact, severe Style of Thucydides, better than he. 
† Salustius homo nequam, sed gravissimus alienae ●…uxuriae objurgator. Lact. l. 2. de fals. Rel.  He is stiff sometimes in his Expressions, but not insipid: his being so short, makes him less clear: His Method is good, and he gives weight to every thing he says: His Thoughts are always fine, though his Manners be bad; declaring always in Commendation of Virtue, and Detestation of Vice. I find him a little too peevish with his Country, and ill affected to his Neighbour; but, for all that, he is a very great man. Caesar had the finest way of expressing himself that ever was. Pedants are in the right in admiring him, for the inimitable purity of his Style; but I still admire him the more, for the exactness of his Sense, no body having ever written better. He is almost the only Author that is free from Impertinencies. He speaks of himself but as an indifferent body, and nothing disagrees in the wise Character he has taken. It is true, that he is not altogether an Historian, but it is true too, that he is a fine Model to write History by. It is a great Honour for that incomparable Author, that Henry the Fourth of France, and Lewis the Fourteenth have busied themselves in the translating of his History of the Gauls. Livy is the most accomplished of all, because he has all the great Parts of an Historian; the Imagination fine, the Expression noble, an exact Sense, with an admirable Eloquence. None but great Ideas come in his Mind; he fills the Imagination of his Readers with what he says: that way he gains People's Hearts, and moves their Souls; and he has the greatest Genius for History, and is one of the greatest Masters of Eloquence that ever was. 
* In Tito Livio putat inesse Pollio quandam Patavinitatem. Fab. l. 8. c. 1.  I do not apprehend Asinius Pollia's meaning, who attributes him a Country Air, which smells of Lombardy. His great strength is, to make People taste what he says, by drawing his Readers to his own Sentiments, by infusing into their Minds his Fears and his Hopes, giving them all his Passion by the Art he has of moving the most hidden Springs of Hearts. Tacitus describes things in a way quite different from others; but he sticks too close to great things, to avoid falling into small ones, which ought not to be neglected. His thoughts are good, but he is not always happy enough to express himself neatly. He is too much a Philosopher. He speaks highly of every thing: If means Destiny was in his hands, he could not speak otherwise: and he moralizes always upon other People's foolishness: and that he may spare no body, he detracts from all Mankind. How many Spirits has he spoiled by the desire of studying Politics, which he inspired so many People with, and which is the vainest of all Studies: 'Tis that ruin'd so many Spaniards, as Antonio Perez, and so many Italians, as Machiavelli, Ammirato, and others. It is only by the fineness of his Style, that this last pleases so much those of strong minds, and so little those that are not so; for he gives distastes by the subtlety of his Discourses and Reflections. He is so obscure in his Expressions, that a man must be extremely versed in his Style, to know how to unwrap his Thoughts. 
* Evenit nonnunquam & aliquid granda inveniat, qui semper quaerit quod nimium est. Fab. l. 2. c. 13.  His manner of Criticising is fine of itself; but his constant censuring of all things makes it become course. He is elevated, because his thoughts are always high mounted: It is only that way that he imposes; and it is not so much to please, and to instruct, that he writes, as to make himself be admired: he has something extraordinary, which causes People to excuse most part of his failings. But there are so many things to be said of that Author, good and bad, that there is no end in speaking of him. It is a kind of Wit, which is of use only for a show; that does not fit the ordinary Commerce of men. Quintus Curtius deserves praises for his being sincere: he says what is good and bad in Alexander, and never suffers the Merits of his Heroes to prevent him. If there be any thing to be found fault with in his History, it is, that it is too nicely finished. But for all that, he did excel in the Descriptions of Manners, which he has done with an Air agreeable and natural. That Character of Perfections which is found in those great Men, was lost in the following Ages. Justin, who became a Compiler, thinking to erect himself to an Historian, does only touch things as he passes by. He knows a great deal; he says things sensibly; and he collected many Actions, which otherwise might have been lost. Most part of the Authors; Historiae Augustae, fixed their Minds to write Lives; as Plutarch and Herodian amongst the Greeks, Suetonius and Cornelius Nepos among the Latins; and so lost the Character of Historians. There came nothing after that, but single Chroniclers, Copiers, Compilers, and such whose Names were known by a course knowledge they gave of their Ages, to whom the Planet of History was not very favourable, having nothing fine nor reasonable in them. There was but little Truth found in the Modern Greeks, who became Visionaries, and related extraordinary Adventures, to please their own Fancies. The Love of Study, which flourished again in the late Ages, revived again a number of good and sensible Historians, who by studying Ancient Authors, and ruling themselves by them, gained more Reputation than their Predecessors Among those that excelled then, that which is peculiar to Commines, is, that he wrote with good sense and sincerity. Paulus Aemilius speaks purely, but is superficial: Paulus Jovius follows only his Passion and his Interest: Machiavelli is exact enough in his History of Florence; his Wit carries it above his Judgement in the rest. He does not do Justice entirely to Castruccio Castrucci, whom he treats as an Enemy of his Country. Mariana, in his History of Spain, was outdone by no Modern, neither for the Greatness of the Design, nor for the Nobleness of the Style. Buchanan is a little too much like a Slave in his imitating of Livy. He stole from the Ancients what he has that is good. He writes very sensibly, yet has not his thoughts elevated. His long Quotations in the Third Book, do not please every body, no more than the large account he gives in the Second Book of the Notion of the Country he speaks of. The Germans have vast Projects about their Histories, and nothing reduced into the Natural Order, which an exact Design requires. One may find in most part of the Spaniards a Spirit of Partiality for their Country, which renders them much suspected. The Italians are rich in particular Histories of the several States which compose Italy; but they have no complete Body of History. There gins to appear amongst us some beams of hopes to have some accomplished Historian, by the approbation the Public gives to those that writ now.   
FINIS.