the reader to judge for himself: this task Herodotus undertook and performed, quoting invariably, with the utmost scrupulousness, his authorities: it sometimes indeed happens, that he does give his own opinion, in words which imply much modesty and diffidence31; but in none of those cases can he be accused of credulity; on the contrary, those parts of the work are, perhaps, without one exception, so many proofs of his good sense and sound judgment. One of the practical advantages resulting from this manner of handling the subjects is, that the reader certainly obtains, from a perusal of Herodotus, a far more complete knowledge of the state of civilization among distant nations than he would have from reading any philosophical treatise on their character that could have been penned. We must therefore beware, particularly when we consider the object and plan of the whole work, and the success attending its execution, of accusing the Historian too lightly of credulity; for surely it would be not only absurd, but highly dishonest, to stigmatize a modern traveller as sharing in the base and barbarous superstition of the South of Europe, because he affirms that at Naples the common people bring forward many instances of the progress of volcanic torrents and the horrors of a protracted drought being checked by the exposition of St. Januarius's blood. Nor would the indignation of the accused be much diminished, were he told, that he ought to have strung together some common places about superstition, in order to shew that he did not approve of Catholic bigotry. But perhaps more has been said on this subject than is strictly necessary, particularly when we consider the many proofs of sound judgment and critical * Proof: Τοῖσι μέν νυν ὑπ ̓ Αἰγυπτίων λεγομένοισι χράσθω ὅτιῳ τὰ τοιαῦτα πιθανά ἐστι· ἐμοὶ δὲ παρὰ πάντα τὸν λόγον ὑπόκειται, ὅτι τὰ λεγόμενα ὑπὲρ ἑκάστων anon yeάpw. Lib. ii. 123. 30 Among many other instances, see lib. ii. 32. i. 191. iv. 195. ix. 16. iii. 55. more particularly iv. 32. Perhaps also vi. 117. concerning which last passage the reader may consult Mitford's History of Greece. 31 as iμoi ye doxís, lib. vi. 95. and in other passages too numerous to quote. discrimination which a person well acquainted with the works of Herodotus may bring forward, from the text of his History. He expresses his disbelief of the god's nightly visits to the Babylonian temple 32: he endeavours to explain physically the curious tradition of the Dodonæans 3: and over and over again, after the relation of some wonder-working report, we meet with the phrase, Ἐμὲ μέν νυν ταῦτα λέγοντες οὐ πείθουσι, or something similar. Up to this point of these observations, the object has been, to give some idea of the art and character of Herodotus, considered as a man and a philosopher: it now remains to investigate his qualifications in a cognate though more confined view as an historian: in which therefore it will be necessary to inquire, whether, in his accounts of so many and different nations, and in the commemoration of events extending over such a long range of time, he has exhibited due industry and judgment of research; strict veracity, in inditing the result of his inquiries; and lastly, whether he had adopted such a mode of conveying his information, as may please, interest, and allure his readers. For without much industry and patience, corroborated by a sound judgment, it is impossible that man should ever arrive at historical truth: without truth, history is but a novel and again, unless truth is decked with the ornaments of a pleasing diction, mankind too frequently turn aside from it with indifference. INDUSTRY OF HERODOTUS. Of Herodotus's industry, the History, in its whole, and in each of its parts, bears the most irrefragable proof: he travelled over almost all the countries which it was necessary he should mention, examining with scrupulous attention, as we have before observed, their geographical situations, their productions in all the kingdoms of nature, the 32 Lib. i. 182. 33 Lib. ii. 57. 34 Lib. iv. 105. ii. 121, 5, &c. manners and religion of the inhabitants; he consulted their monuments, and inscriptions, and historical chronicles; and carefully collected their traditions. He measured himself the Propontis and Euxine Sea 35; examined carefully the ancient monuments of Egypt, in order to be able to describe them as an eye-witness; and, when he had not the opportunity of personal observation, he consulted the best-informed natives of the countries he visited. Cautious of adopting traditions without sufficient authority, he spared no pains to obtain all possible evidence to warrant a correct inference: thus he travelled, he tells us, from Memphis to Heliopolis, and from Heliopolis to Thebes, expressly to ascertain whether the priests of the last two places would agree with those of Memphis: ἐθέλων εἰδέναι εἰ συμβήσονται τοῖσι λόγοισι τοῖσι ἐν Μέμφι”. The Second Book affords likewise another remarkable instance of his anxiety to come at the truth, and of the patience which he exposed to all the obstacles that stood in his way. He had heard from the priests of Egypt an account of the antiquity of the worship of Hercules, which was calculated to startle a Greek: desirous of arriving at the truth in a point so important, as connected with the religion of his country, he proceeded to Tyre, and from thence to the island of Thasos, two places celebrated for the antiquity of their temples of Hercules: finding that the traditions. of the Egyptian, Tyrian, and Thasian priests pretty nearly agreed, he concluded, with good reason, that those Greeks acted more consonantly to probability who possessed two temples of Hercules, one of the hero, and the other of the god 38. Another equally convincing proof of the care and industry with which Herodotus pursued his historical researches may be deduced from the evident attention with which he examined almost all the celebrated temples existing in his day; most of which he describes as an eye-witness. For in those ancient 35 Lib. iv. 86. 38 Lib. ii. 44. 36 Lib. ii. 148, et passim. 37 Lib. ii. 3. times, almost all remarkable events were transmitted to posterity by means of inscriptions engraved on durable monuments, and tripods dedicated in the temples. As an example of the judgment with which those researches were conducted, it will suffice to refer to that part of the History where Herodotus discusses the probability of the use of writing having been introduced in Greece by the Phoenicians 40. VERACITY OF HERODOTUS. It can hardly be doubted, that one who took such pains to ascertain the truth, would be equally scrupulous in offering nothing but the truth to his reader; and indeed, strange as it may sound to those who have been in the habit of hearing Herodotus stigmatized as a liar, by persons who ought to know better, there probably is no author, whether ancient or modern, (the inspired writers excepted,) who deserve to be placed before him in the scale of truth and accuracy. Not, however, that it is to be supposed, that every thing contained in the Nine Books is strictly true, or even was thought to be so by the author himself." It is my duty," he says in one place," to relate "all that is reported; although I am not, at all events, obliged to give credit to every thing: this observation "I would have to be applied throughout this History:" Ἐγὼ δὲ ὀφείλω λέγειν τὰ λεγόμενα, πείθεσθαί γε μὲν ὧν οὐ παντάπασι ὀφείλω καί μοι τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος ἐχέτω ἐς πάντα Toy Aóyou. It is therefore, in all fairness, necessary, that before we accuse Herodotus of a wish to deceive in any particular passage of his History, we should first ascertain whether he is speaking on his own authority, or on that of others: for this the original text must be referred to; because the modern languages not admitting of that syntactical flexibility by which a long narration may be governed by one verb at the beginning, it must often happen that the translator is obliged to represent Herodotus as 66 40 Lib. v. 57-61. 41 Lib. vii. 152. Compare lib. ii. 123. speaking in his own name, while he really is only relating what he has heard from others: for instance, in the long tale about Rhampsinitus, king of Egypt, and the sons of the architect, a person who would only consult a modern translation might naturally be led to believe that the whole is stated by Herodotus on his own authority; whereas in the Greek, the structure of every sentence recalls to the reader's attention, that the writer is only repeating what he had heard from the Egyptian priests; or, to use the grammatical terms, that each infinitive is governed by Eλyou at the head of the chapter 42. The interior evidence, therefore, of the veracity of the History of Herodotus consists in the visible care with which he always quotes his authorities 13; his attention to mark his own opinion, whenever he thinks proper to offer it"; and his upright and frank avowal of being unable to give any certain information to his reader, when his researches have not enabled him to obtain any that he could rely upon. This evidence is so convincing, that it is by no means to the honour of the ancients that so many among them should have treated the Historian as a fabulist: that the pretended learned, however, among the moderns should cherish a similar opinion, can only be accounted for on the supposition that their ignorance equals their presumption. D'Anville and Rennell, among geographers; Shaw, Parke, Browne, Belzoni, among travellers; Cuvier, among naturalists; all bear their powerful testimony to the astonishing accuracy of the Father of History. It is now too late to laugh at Herodotus, when he asserts that Africa is a peninsula, or when he states that the Niger was reported to flow from the west". His descriptions of the crocodile, the hippopotamus", the method of embalming bodies, are all found to be perfectly exact, by modern |