§39Τοῦ δὴ συγγραφέως ἔργον ἕν—ὡς ἐπράχθη εἰπεῖν.
There is indeed but one task for the historian—to tell things as they happened.
τοῦτο δ’ οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο ἄχρι ἂν ἢ φοβῆται Ἀρταξέρξην ἰατρὸς αὐτοῦ ὢν ἢ ἐλπίζῃ κάνδυν πορφυροῦν καὶ στρεπτὸν χρυσοῦν καὶ ἵππον τῶν Νισαίων ληψεσθαι μισθὸν τῶν ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ἐπαίνων.
But he would not be able to do this as long as he either fears Artaxerxes, being his physician, or hopes to receive a purple robe, a golden collar, and a Nisaean horse as a reward for his praises in his writing.
ἀλλ’ οὐ Ξενοφῶν αὐτὸ ποιήσει, δίκαιος συγγραφεύς, οὐδὲ Θουκυδίδης.
But Xenophon, a just historian, will not do this, nor will Thucydides.
ἀλλὰ κἂν ἰδίᾳ μισῇ τινας πολὺ ἀναγκαιότερον ἡγήσεται τὸ κοινὸν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν περὶ πλείονος ποιήσεται τῆς ἔχθρας, κἂν φιλῇ ὅμως οὐκ ἀφέξεται ἁμαρτάνοντος.
Even if he hates some people privately, he will consider the common interest far more necessary, and will value truth more than his hatred; and even if he loves someone, he will not refrain from recording him when he errs.
§40Ἕν γάρ, ὡς ἔφην, τοῦτο ἴδιον ἱστορίας, καὶ μόνῃ θυτέον τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, εἴ τις ἱστορίαν γράψων ἴοι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀμελητέον αὐτῷ, καὶ ὅλως πῆχυς εἷς καὶ μέτρον ἀκριβές, ἀποβλέπειν μὴ εἰς τοὺς νῦν ἀκούοντας ἀλλ’ εἰς τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα συνεσομένους τοῖς συγγράμμασιν.
For this one thing, as I said, is peculiar to history, and one must sacrifice to truth alone if one is to set about writing history, and must neglect all other things; and in short, the single standard and precise measure is to look not to those who are listening now, but to those who will associate with the writings hereafter.
εἰ δὲ τὸ παραυτίκα τις θεραπεύοι, τῆς τῶν κολακευόντων μερίδος εἰκότως ἂν νομισθείη, οὓς πάλαι ἡ ἱστορία καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὐθὺς ἀπέστραπτο, οὐ μεῖον ἢ κομμωτικὴν ἡ γυμναστική.
But if someone should court the immediate moment, he would naturally be considered to belong to the class of flatterers, whom history has long since, indeed from the very beginning, turned away from, no less than gymnastics does cosmetics.
Ἀλεξάνδρου γοῦν καὶ τοῦτο ἀπομνημονεύουσιν ὅς Ἡδέως ἄν, ἔφη, πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀνεβίουν, ὦ Ὀνησίκριτε, ἀποθανὼν ὡς μάθοιμι ὅπως ταῦτα οἱ ἄνθρωποι τότε ἀναγιγνώσκουσιν.
At any rate, they record this also of Alexander, who said, "O Onesicritus, I would gladly come back to life for a little while after dying, so that I might learn how people read these things then.
εἰ δὲ νῦν αὐτὰ ἐπαινοῦσι καὶ ἀσπάζονται, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· οἴονται γὰρ οὐ μικρῷ τινι τῷ δελέατι τούτῳ ἀνασπάσειν ἕκαστος τὴν παρ' ἡμῶν εὔνοιαν. Ὁμήρῳ γοῦν, καίτοι πρὸς τὸ μυθῶδες τὰ πλεῖστα συγγεγραφότι ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως, ἤδη καὶ πιστεύειν τινὲς ὑπάγονται, μόνον τοῦτο εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀληθείας μέγα τεκμήριον τιθέμενοι ὅτι μὴ περὶ ζῶντος ἔγραφεν· οὐ γὰρ εὑρίσκουσιν οὗτινος ἕνεκα ἐψεύδετ' ἄν.
But if they praise and welcome them now, do not wonder; for they think that each one will hook our goodwill with this not small bait." At any rate, in the case of Homer, although he wrote most things mythically about Achilles, some are already led to believe him, putting forward this alone as a great proof of truth: that he did not write about a living man; for they do not find for what reason he would have lied.
§41Τοιοῦτος οὖν μοι ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἔστω—ἄφοβος, ἀδέκαστος, ἐλεύθερος, παρρησίας καὶ ἀληθείας φίλος, ὡς ὁ κωμικός φησι, τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων, οὐ μίσει οὐδὲ φιλίᾳ τι νέμων οὐδὲ φειδόμενος ἢ ἐλεῶν ἢ αἰσχυνόμενος ἢ δυσωπούμενος, ἴσος δικαστής, εὔνους ἅπασιν ἄχρι τοῦ μὴ θατέρῳ τι ἀπονεῖμαι πλεῖον τοῦ δέοντος, ξένος ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις καὶ ἄπολις, αὐτόνομος, ἀβασίλευτος, οὐ τί τῷδε ἢ τῷδε δόξει λογιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ τί πέπρακται λέγων.
Let the historian, then, be like this for me—fearless, unbribed, free, a friend of frankness and truth, intending, as the comic poet says, to call a fig a fig and a spade a spade, yielding nothing to hatred or friendship, nor sparing, or pitying, or feeling ashamed, or being put out of countenance; an impartial judge, well-disposed to all up to the point of not assigning to one more than is due; a stranger in his books and without a city, autonomous, under no king, not calculating what this or that man will think, but telling what has been done.
§42Ὁ δ’ οὖν Θουκυδίδης εὖ μάλα τοῦτ' ἐνομοθέτησεν καὶ διέκρινεν ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν συγγραφικήν, ὁρῶν μάλιστα θαυμαζόμενον τὸν Ἡρόδοτον ἄχρι τοῦ καὶ Μούσας κληθῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ βιβλία.
Thucydides, at any rate, laid this down very well as a law and distinguished historical virtue and vice, seeing Herodotus especially admired, so far indeed that his books were even called Muses.
κτῆμά τε γάρ φησι μᾶλλον ἐς ἀεὶ συγγράφειν ἤπερ ἐς τὸ παρὸν ἀγώνισμα, καὶ μὴ τὸ μυθῶδες ἀσπάζεσθαι ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν γεγενημένων ἀπολείπειν τοῖς ὕστερον.
For he says that he is writing a possession for ever rather than a prize-essay for the moment, and that he does not welcome the mythical but leaves the truth of what has happened to posterity.
καὶ ἐπάγει τὸ χρήσιμον καὶ ὃ τέλος ἄν τις εὖ φρονῶν ὑπόθοιτο ἱστορίας, ὡς εἴ ποτε καὶ αὖθις τὰ ὅμοια καταλάβοι, ἔχοιεν, φησι, πρὸς τὰ προγεγραμμένα ἀποβλέποντες εὖ χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἐν ποσί.
And he adduces its usefulness, and what any man of sound mind would propose as the end of history, so that if ever similar events should occur again, they might, he says, by looking at what has been written before, make good use of the affairs at hand.
§43Καὶ τὴν μὲν γνώμην τοιαύτην ἔχων ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἡκέτω μοι, τὴν δὲ φωνὴν καὶ τὴν τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἰσχύν, τὴν μὲν σφοδρὰν ἐκείνην καὶ κάρχαρον καὶ συνεχῆ ταῖς περιόδοις καὶ ἀγκύλην ταῖς ἐπιχειρήσεσι καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τῆς ῥητορείας δεινότητα μὴ κομιδῇ τεθηγμένος ἀρχέσθω τῆς γραφῆς, ἀλλ’ εἰρηνικώτερον διακείμενος.
Let the historian, then, come to me with such a mind; but as for his voice and power of expression, let him begin his writing not completely sharpened by that vehement and harsh style, continuous in its periods and crooked in its arguments, and the rest of the power of rhetoric, but in a more peaceful disposition.
καὶ ὁ μὲν νοῦς σύστοιχος ἔστω καὶ πυκνός, ἡ λέξις δὲ σαφὴς καὶ πολιτική, οἵα ἐπισημότατα δηλοῦν τὸ ὑποκείμενον.
And let his thought be well-ordered and dense, and his style clear and political, such as to show the subject-matter most conspicuously.