Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 1.21

[1] Now he that by the arguments here adduced shall frame a judgment of the things past and not believe rather that they were such as the poets have sung or prose-writers have composed, more delightfully to the ear than conformably to the truth, as being things not to be disproved and by length of time turned for the most part into the nature of fables without credit, but shall think them here searched out by the most evident signs that can be, and sufficiently too, considering their antiquity: he, I say, shall not err.

[2] And though men always judge the present war wherein they live to be greatest, and when it is past, admire more those that were before it, yet if they consider of this war by the acts done in the same, it will manifest itself to be greater than any of those before mentioned.

[1] On the whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted may, I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of his craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are attractive at truth's expense; the subjects they treat of being out of the reach of evidence, and time having robbed most of them of historical value by enthroning them in the region of legend. Turning from these, we can rest satisfied with having proceeded upon the clearest data, and having arrived at conclusions as exact as can be expected in matters of such antiquity.

[2] To come to this war; despite the known disposition of the actors in a struggle to overrate its importance, and when it is over to return to their admiration of earlier events, yet an examination of the facts will show that it was much greater than the wars which preceded it.

Trotzdem möchte Einer nicht seht gehen, wenn er zumeist
das für wahr hält, was ich nach den angeführten Beweisgründen
mitgetheilt habe, und weder dem mehr Glauben schenkt, was die Dichter
in's Großartige ausschmückend davon gesungen haben, noch auch dem,
was die Sagenschreiber 5 9) darüber aufgezeichnet, mehr mit Rücksicht
auf das der Einbildungskrast Schmeichelnde als aus die Wahrheit,
Unerweisliches nämlich und unter dem Einfluß der Zeit in's
Unglaubliche und Fabelhafte Umgebildetes; er soll vielmehr glauben, daß
mein Befund den glaubwürdigsten Zeugnissen entspreche und so treu
sei, wie es bei Dingen aus so alter Zeit eben möglich ist. Was aber
den hier erzählten Krieg selbst betrifft, so wird man finden, daß er
sich durch die Thatsachen selbst als viel bedeutender erweist als alle
früher geführten, obwohl die Menschen immer den für den wichtigsten
ansehen, in welchem sie gerade begriffen sind, nach seiner Beendigung
aber wieder zur Bewunderung des Alten zurückkehren.

XXI. Néanmoins on ne se trompera guère en admettant, sur les preuves que j’ai alléguées, que les événe- ments dont j’ai présenté l’esquisse sont tels que je l’ai dit ; à moins qu’on n’aime mieux accepter les récits pompeux des poëtes qui ont exagéré et embelli les faits, ou les discours arrangés des historiens, plus préoccupés de flatter l’oreille que de suivre la vérité ¹ en racontant des événements pour lesquels les preuves manquent, et qui, pour la plupart, effacés par le temps, sans valeur historique, ont pris rang parmi les faits mythologiques. On peut donc croire que les résultats de mes investigations, appuyées sur des témoignages aussi incontestables que possible lorsqu’il s’agit de faits anciens, ont une suffisante autorité.

Que l’on juge par les faits la guerre actuelle, et, malgré la tendance qu’ont les hommes à croire toujours que la guerre dans laquelle ils sont engagés est la plus importante de toutes, puis, quand elle est finie, à admirer davantage les exploits antérieurs, on verra clairement que celle-ci l’emporte sur celles qui ont précédé.

Néanmoins, d’après les preuves que je viens d’exposer, on ne risque pas de s’égarer en admettant mes assertionsy plutôt que les brillantes exagérations des poètes ou les récits plus attrayants qu’avérés des logographes ¹ . Ce sont des choses qui échappent à une démonstration rigoureuse, et qui, pour la plupart, ont perdu toute créance, parce qu’elles sont tombées dans le domaine des fables. En matières si anciennes, on doit se contenter des résultats que j’ai obtenus en consultant les témoignages les plus authentiques; et, bien que les hommes aient une tendance constante à regarder la guerre dans laquelle ils sont engagés comme la plus importante de toutes, puis, lorsqu'elle est finie, à admirer plutôt celles d’autrefois, il suffit d’examiner les faits pour se convaincre que celle-ci a surpassé toutes les précédentes.

[1] Still, from the evidence that has been given, any one would not err who should hold the view that the state of affairs in antiquity was pretty nearly such as I have described it, not giving greater credence to the accounts, on the one hand, which the poets have put into song, adorning and amplifying their theme, and, on the other, which the chroniclers have composed with a view rather of pleasing the ear ¹ than of telling the truth, since their stories cannot be tested and most of them have from lapse of time won their way into the region of the fabulous so as to be incredible. He should regard the facts as having been made out with sufficient accuracy, on the basis of the clearest indications, considering that they have to do with early times.

[2] And so, even though men are always inclined, while they are engaged in a war, to judge the present one the greatest, but when it is over to regard ancient events with greater wonder, yet this war will prove, for men who judge from the actual facts, to have been more important than any that went before.

[1] If, however, from the proofs which have been mentioned any one should suppose that things were, on the whole, such as I have described them; instead of rather believing what either poets have sung of them, setting them off in terms of exaggeration, or historians have composed, in language more attractive ¹ to the ear than truthful, their subjects admitting of no proof, and most of them, through length of time, ² having come to be regarded as fabulous—and if he should consider that, allowing for their antiquity, they have been sufficiently ascertained from the most certain data; he would not be mistaken in his opinion.

[2] And though men always think the war of their own times to be the greatest while they are engaged in it, but when they have ceased from it, regard earlier events with more admiration; yet, to such as look at it from the facts themselves, this war will evidently appear to be greater than those.

[1] Ex his autem argumentis quae dixi, si quis res tales potissimum fuisse ducat, quas enarravi, non erraverit, non autem neque quales poetae celebrarunt in majus exornantes, neque quales memoriae prodiderunt logographi, aptius illi ad capiendos auditorum animos quam verius; siquidem meminerit, res illas certa ratione demonstrari non posse, et de plerisque eorum temporum lapsu incredibiles opiniones fabulis propiores invaluisse, credat vero, ubi argumentis maxime manifestis investigatae sint, pro vetusta quidem memoria hoc sufficere.

[2] Et hoc quidem bellum, quamquam homines, donec bellum gerunt, semper praesens quodque maximum judicant, eoque finito vetera magis admirantur, tamen iis, qui res ipsas aestimant, illis majus exstitisse apparebit.

Nondimeno per le prove addotte non andrà lungi dal vero chi giudichi queste cose tali presso a poco quali per me sono state esposte, più presto che tali quali le hanno cantate i poeti con ornamenti che le ricrescono, o quali, per molcere le orecchie più che per dire il vero, le hanno raffazzonate i prosatori : cose mancanti di prove, e che generalmente per la loro antichità, senza esser credute, hanno preso piede nel genere delle favole. Nè fallir;« chi piuttosto pensi che, secondo antiche, col tener dietro a’più manifesti argomenti sieno state ritrovate tali da appagare. Così, tutto che gli uomini abbiano maggior concetto della guerra presente mentre vi combattono, e sbrigatisi di quella tengano in maggior conto le antiche ; pure a chi vorrà giudicarne propriamente dai fatti, questa si mostrerà essere stata più considerabile di quelle.