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

VI

POLYBIUS

197

institutions which saved Rome.' He has seized
the instant at which the reader's interest is most
fully prepared and awake to learn the lessons
which those institutions have to give.
Polybius is not less express than Thucydides
in asserting the principle that accurate representation of facts was the fundamental duty of the
historian. He lays down that three things are
requisite for performing such a task as his: the
study and criticism of sources; autopsy, that is,
personal knowledge of lands and places; and
thirdly, political experience. He was himself a
man of action, and had acquired political and
military experience before he became a historian,
so that he fulfilled the third condition; and he
was most conscientious in endeavouring to satisfy
the two other self-imposed requirements. He possessed a wide acquaintance with historical literature, and criticized the authorities whom he used
with fearless independence of judgment. He was
not taken in by "authority," and he declined to
render unreserved credit to a writer on the ground
that he was a contemporary or a man of character.
For instance, he criticizes the views of the Roman
historian Fabius on the causes of the Punic war.
" There are some," he observes,2 "who think that
because he lived at the time and was a Roman
senator he should be believed without more ado.
Whereas I consider his authority high, but not

In Book vi. The intervening Books iv. and v. deal with synchronous
events in Greece. See iii. 118. 2 iii. 9.