para indicar cómo ha evolucionado «el modo de escribir la historia» desde el principio. Pero como la historia de los modos de escribir la historia aún no se ha escrito bien, nos contentaremos aquí con algunas observaciones muy generales sobre el período anterior a la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, limitándonos a lo estrictamente necesario para la comprensión de la situación actual.
I. History was first conceived as the narration of memorable events. To preserve the memory and propagate the knowledge of glorious deeds, or of events which were of importance to a man, a family, or a people; such was the aim of history in the tune of Thucydides and Livy. In addition, history was early considered as a collection of precedents, and the knowledge of history as a practical preparation for life, especially political life (military and civil). Polybius and Plutarch wrote to instruct, they claimed to give recipes for action. Hence in classical antiquity the subject-matter of history consisted chiefly of political incidents, wars, and revolutions. The ordinary framework of historical exposition (within which the facts were usually arranged in chronological order) was the life of a person, the whole life of a people, or a particular period in it; there were in antiquity but few essays in general history. As the aim of the historian was to please or to instruct, or to please and instruct at the same time, history