The ancient Greek historians (Harvard lectures) by J. B. Bury.

vmlI HISTORICAL RELATIVITY 2

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their place. Some are abased, others are exalted.
If they are dependent on their historical context,
they may also be justified by it. For instance,
from the point of view of modern conditions, we
shudder at the relation which the Church held to
the State in the Middle Ages; but when we study
the conditions of that period, we may acknowledge
that the relation was justified. It is hard to say
at which of our present-day W estern institutions
future generations will shudder most; but we may
hope that they will also discover justifications.
This principle of historical relativity induces what
may be called the historical attitude of mind; it
changes our outlook also on the present and the
future; and therefore it has a direct practical
value. Perhaps it is fair to say that it is one of
the most important results of the mental development of the nineteenth century.'
I have suggested that this change is not less
effective than our new conceptions of the evolution
of nature. I may illustrate this by comparing the
ways in which the advance of historical science and
1 Although the principle of historical relativity, with its implication
that there are no absolute values in history, that values vary according to
time and place, is a modern idea; nevertheless the Greeks made virtual
application of it, occasionally and in very simple cases. Thucydides
furnishes an instance. He suggests that, if the Greeks of his day regard
piracy as an offence against morals, they must not apply their standard
to a different stage of civilisation, when piracy was esteemed an honourable profession. This is one of the few examples to be found in ancient
writers of what we call an historical sense. Another example is furnished
by Eratosthenes, who pointed out that in studying Homer the historical
conditions of his age must be taken into account, and that his geographical ideas corresponded to the ignorance which then prevailed; his
authority therefore has no value transcending the conditions of his own
time.