DIODORUS SICULUS, excerpt

IN PRAISE OF USEFUL HISTORY "[T]he acquisition of a knowledge of history is of the greatest utility for every conceivable circumstance of life. For it endows the young with the wisdom of the aged, while for the old it multiplies the experience which they already possess; citizens in private station it qualifies for leadership; and the leaders it incites, through the immortality of glory which it confers, to undertake the noblest deeds; soldiers, again, it makes more ready to face dangers in defense of their country because of the public encomiums which they will receive after death , and wicked men it turns aside from their impulse towards evil through the everlasting opprobrium to which it will condemn them. "2. In general, then, it is because of that commemoration of goodly deeds which history accords men that some of them have been induced to become the founders of cities , that others have been led to introduce laws which encompass man's social life with security, and that many have aspired to discover new sciences and arts in order to benefit the race of men. And since complete happiness can be attained only through the combination of all these activities, the foremost need of praise must be awarded to that which more than any other thing is the cause of them, that is, history. For we must look upon it as constituting the guardian of the high achievements of illustrious men, the witness which testifies to the evil deeds of the wicked, and the benefactor of the entire human race. For if it is true that the myths that are related about Hades, in spite of the fact that their subject matter is fictitious , contribute greatly to fostering piety and justice, among men, how much more must we assume that history, the prophetess of truth, she who is, as it were , the mother-city of philosophy as a whole, is still more potent to equip men's characters for noble living ! ... "For whereas all other memorials abide for a brief time, being continually destroyed by many vicissitudes , yet the power of history which extends over the whole inhabited world, possesses in time, which brings ruins on all things else, a custodian which ensures its perpetual transmission to posterity . "History also contributes to the power of speech, and a nobler thing than that may not easily be found. For it is this that makes the Greeks superior to the barbarians, and the educated to the uneducated and, furthermore, it is by means of speech alone that one man is able to gain ascendency over the many; ...history alone, since in it, word and fact are in perfect agreement, embraces in its narration all other qualities that are useful; for it is ever to be seen urging men to justice, denouncing those who are evil, lauding those who are good, laying up, in a word, for its readers, a mighty store of experience." P. 7-13, "Book 1," LIBRARY OF HISTORY by Diodorus Siculus (1933, 1998)