Francklin, Thomas (1721-1784); Lucian (b.c. 125, d. after 180)

Instructions for Writing History [from The Works of Lucian]

London

Printed for T. Cadell

1780

"The mind of the historian should resemble a looking-glass, shining, clear, and exactly true, representing every thing as it really is, and nothing distorted, or of a different form, or colour."

The mind of the historian should resemble a looking-glass, shining, clear, and exactly true, representing every thing as it really is, and nothing distorted, or of a different form, or colour. He writes not to the masters of eloquence, but simply relates what is done: it is not his to consider what he shall say, but only how it is to be said. He may be compared to Phidias, Praxiteles, Alcamenus, or other eminent artists; for neither did they make the gold, the silver, the ivory, or any of the materials which they worked upon: these were supplied by the Elians, the Athenians, and Argives; their only business was to cut and polish the ivory, to spread the gold into various forms, and join them together; their art was properly to dispose what was put into their hands: and such is the work of the historians, to dispose and adorn the actions of men, and to make them known with clearness, and precision. To represent what he hath heard, as if he had been himself an eyewitness of it. To perform this well, and gain the praise resulting from it, is the business of our historical Phidias.
(p. 409)

Optics::Mirror::Looking-Glass

Reading

3 entries in ESTC (1780, 1781). See also Select Dialogues (1785). Translations of select dialogues date from 1634.

Text from The Works of Lucian, from the Greek, by Thomas Francklin, D. D. Some Time Greek Professor in the University of Cambridge. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1780). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>

11/15/2013