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

246 ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIANS LECT.

And without being Aristotelians, or belonging to
any school of philosophy, we must admit, that, as
all things are interrelated, there must be a point at
which every fact has a possible significance for
man's view of his world, and therefore a practical
value. Take historical phenomena. In the final
synthesis of history, which may at least conceivably
be achieved in the indefinitely distant future, all
facts must have a place. And when we consider the inevitable lacunae in our records, it is clear
that every fact is precious; for instance, one trivial
detail may be the means of leading us to the right
reconstruction, just as in a detective's investigation
an apparently insignificant circumstance (such as
the spelling of a word) may put the clue in his
hands. You never can tell. Thus the antiquarian
historian is playing the long game. He collects,
sifts, and interprets facts which, if you take the short
view, may seem merely curious, without relation
to human life, not the business of a man whose
interests are human; but at any time one of these
facts may enable us to solve a problem, or prove a
theory, the human interest of which is evident. We
may say then that the cry of " history for its own
sake," means that history has begun systematically
to play the long game. Let us remember that
however long be the game and however technical
the rules, human interest is its ultimate justification. Let us not take the phrase "history
for its own sake" to mean that it is not the
proper function of history to serve any ulterior