Digressions in History
Accordingly the most learned of the ancient historians
have, as it seems to me, taken intervals of rest in this way:
some by digressions on myths and tales, and others by
digressions on historical facts,—not confining themselves to
Greek history, but introducing disquisitions on points of foreign
history as well. As, for instance, when, in the course of a history
of Thessaly and the campaigns of Alexander of Pherae, they
introduce an account of the attempts of the Lacedaemonians
in the Peloponnese; or those made by the Athenians; or actions
which took place in Macedonia or Illyria: and then break off
into an account of the expedition of Iphicrates into Egypt, and
the iniquitous deeds of Clearchus in the Pontus. This will
show you that these historians all employ this method; but,
whereas they employ it without any system, I do so on a
regular system. For these men, after mentioning, for instance,
that Bardylis, king of the Illyrians, and Cersobleptes, king
of the Thracians, established their dynasties, neither go on
continuously with the stories nor return to them after an
interval to take them up where they left off, but, treating them
like an episode in a poem, they go back to their original subject.
But I made a careful division of all the most important countries
in the world and the course of their several histories; pursued
exactly the same plan in regard to the order of taking the several
divisions; and, moreover, arranged the history of each year in
the respective countries, carefully keeping to the limits of the
time: and the result is that I have made the transition backwards and forwards between my continuous narrative and the
continually recurring interruptions easy and obvious to students,
so that an attentive reader need never miss anything. . . .
note
-- 528 -- 