ROMAN HISTORY
Home | Prev
| Next
| Contents
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE [1]
Whether in tracing the history of the Roman people, from the
foundation of the city, I shall employ myself to a useful purpose, I
am neither very certain, nor, if I were, dare I say; inasmuch as I
observe that it is both an old and hackneyed practice, later authors
always supposing that they will either adduce something more authentic
in the facts, or, that they will excel the less polished ancients in
their style of writing. Be that as it may, it will, at all events,
be a satisfaction to me that I too have contributed my share to
perpetuate the achievements of a people, the lords of the world; and
if, amid so great a number of historians, my reputation should remain
in obscurity, I may console myself with the celebrity and lustre of
those who shall stand in the way of my fame. Moreover, the subject is
of immense labour, as being one which must be traced back for more
than seven hundred years, and which, having set out from small
beginnings, has increased to such a degree that it is now distressed
by its own magnitude. And, to most readers, I doubt not but that the
first origin and the events immediately succeeding, will afford but
little pleasure, while they will be hastening to these later times, in
which the strength of this overgrown people has for a long period been
working its own destruction. I, on the contrary, shall seek this, as
a reward of my labour, viz., to withdraw myself from the view of the
calamities, which our age has witnessed for so many years, so long as
I am reviewing with my whole attention these ancient times, being free
from every care that may distract a writer's mind, though it can not
warp it from the truth. The traditions that have come down to us of
what happened before the building of the city, or before its building
was contemplated, as being suitable rather to the fictions of poetry
than to the genuine records of history, I have no intention either to
affirm or to refute. This indulgence is conceded to antiquity, that by
blending things human with divine, it may make the origin of cities
appear more venerable: and if any people might be allowed to
consecrate their origin, and to ascribe it to the gods as its authors,
such is the renown of the Roman people in war, that when they
represent Mars, in particular, as their own parent and that of their
founder, the nations of the world may submit to this as patiently
as they submit to their sovereignty. But in whatever way these and
similar matters shall be attended to, or judged of, I shall not
deem it of great importance. I would have every man apply his mind
seriously to consider these points, viz., what their life and what
their manners were; through what men and by what measures, both in
peace and in war, their empire was acquired and extended; then, as
discipline gradually declined, let him follow in his thoughts their
morals, at first as slightly giving way, anon how they sunk more and
more, then began to fall headlong, until he reaches the present times,
when we can endure neither our vices nor their remedies. This it is
which is particularly salutary and profitable in the study of history,
that you behold instances of every variety of conduct displayed on a
conspicuous monument; that thence you may select for yourself and for
your country that which you may imitate; thence note what is shameful
in the undertaking, and shameful in the result, which you may avoid.
But either a fond partiality for the task I have undertaken deceives
me, or there never was any state either greater, or more moral, or
richer in good examples, nor one into which luxury and avarice made
their entrance so late, and where poverty and frugality were so much
and so long honoured; so that the less wealth there was, the less
desire was there. Of late, riches have introduced avarice and
excessive pleasures a longing for them, amid luxury and a passion for
ruining ourselves and destroying everything else. But let complaints,
which will not be agreeable even then, when perhaps they will be also
necessary, be kept aloof at least from the first stage of beginning so
great a work. We should rather, if it was usual with us (historians)
as it is with poets, begin with good omens, vows and prayers to the
gods and goddesses to vouchsafe good success to our efforts in so
arduous an undertaking.
[Footnote 1: The tone of dignified despondency which pervades this
remarkable preface tells us much. That the republican historian was
no timid or time-serving flatterer of prince or public is more than
clear, while his unerring judgment of the future should bring much of
respect for his judgment of the past. When he wrote, Rome was more
powerful than ever. Only the seeds of ruin were visible, yet he
already divines their full fruitage.--D. O.]
Prev
| Next
| Contents
|