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

LECTURE VIII

VIEWS OF THE ANCIENTS CONCERNING THE
USE OF HISTORY
IT was not reserved for modern historians to ask
themselves why history should be studied and why
it should be written. The question was considered
by ancient writers; and it was first posed by Thucydides. Herodotus indeed announced that the
general purpose of his work was to preserve the
memory of past events and record great actions
which deserve the meed of fame. This statement
shows that Herodotus had not asked himself the
question; he assumed, and rightly assumed, the
human interest of history; but he did not examine
what it meant. He was prompted to write his
prose epic by the same instinct which prompted the
Homeric minstrels to compose their epic poems.
Lov ap' cOto'Bv (LvOKcev aEtSeEIvat KXc\a (vtpcov.
The muse inspired the bard to sing of glorious deeds of men.
He esteemed the aim of the historian to be exactly
the same as the aim of the epic poet-to entertain
an audience. So long as it was written from this
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