Rating: Not rated
Tags: History, Lang:en
Summary
From Preface: "Whether the task I have undertaken of writing
a complete history of the Roman people from the very
commencement of its existence will reward me for the labour
spent on it, I neither know for certain, nor if I did know
would I venture to say. For I see that this is an
old-established and a common practice, each fresh writer being
invariably persuaded that he will either attain greater
certainty in the materials of his narrative, or surpass the
rudeness of antiquity in the excellence of his style. However
this may be, it will still be a great satisfaction to me to
have taken my part, too, in investing, to the utmost of my
abilities, the annals of the foremost nation in the world with
a deeper interest; and if in such a crowd of writers my own
reputation is thrown into the shade, I would console myself
with the renown and greatness of those who eclipse my fame. The
subject, moreover, is one that demands immense labour. It goes
back beyond 700 years and, after starting from small and humble
beginnings, has grown to such dimensions that it begins to be
overburdened by its greatness. I have very little doubt, too,
that for the majority of my readers the earliest times and
those immediately succeeding, will possess little attraction;
they will hurry on to these modern days in which the might of a
long paramount nation is wasting by internal decay. I, on the
other hand, shall look for a further reward of my labours in
being able to close my eyes to the evils which our generation
has witnessed for so many years; so long, at least, as I am
devoting all my thoughts to retracing those pristine records,
free from all the anxiety which can disturb the historian of
his own times even if it cannot warp him from the truth. The
traditions of what happened prior to the foundation of the City
or whilst it was being built, are more fitted to adorn the
creations of the poet than the authentic records of the
historian, and I have no intention of establishing either their
truth or their falsehood. This much licence is conceded to the
ancients, that by intermingling human actions with divine they
may confer a more august dignity on the origins of states. Now,
if any nation ought to be allowed to claim a sacred origin and
point back to a divine paternity that nation is Rome. For such
is her renown in war that when she chooses to represent Mars as
her own and her founder's father, the nations of the world
accept the statement with the same equanimity with which they
accept her dominion. But whatever opinions may be formed or
criticisms passed upon these and similar traditions, I regard
them as of small importance."