io8 On the ANCIENT FORM 



" he fpoke to the Lacedaemonians in this manner." SALLUST'S 

 introduction to the fpeech of CJESAR is of the fame kind ; and 

 the fame obfervation may be illuftrated in a variety of pafTages 

 in LIVY. To what has been offered on this head, I mall add 

 the following advice from LUCIAN, a writer of confiderable 

 judgment, and who treated fabulous hiftory with very little in- 

 dulgence. " When it is necefTary to make any one fpeak, you 

 " muft take care to let him fay nothing but what is fuitable to 

 " the perfon, and to what he fpeaks about, and let every thing 

 " be clear and intelligible : Here, indeed, you may be permit- 

 " ted to play the orator, and (hew the power of eloquence." 



UPON the whole, therefore, of this argument, I have little 

 difficulty in concluding, that the charge of deviation from 

 truth, in the dramatic form of hiftorical compofition, is ill- 

 founded, or admits of great palliation. 



2. BUT, fuppofing the cafe were otherwife, " Has not the 

 flrict rule of veracity been relaxed in other particulars of higher 

 moment, both by ancient and modern hiflorians, without de- 

 ftroying or even weakening their credit?" And, if fo, why 

 may not fome indulgence be fhewn to thofe writers who 

 would enliven the detail of facts with the fpirit of oratorial 

 language ? 



HISTORIANS, very frequently, not only record facts and events, 

 but endeavour to trace and explain their caufes. The caufes, 

 however, of great events often lie in the human mind ; in the 

 paffions and judgments of powerful men. It thus becomes ne- 

 cefTary to inveftigate motives, detect: inclinations, and explore 

 the labyrinths of the human heart. How difficult a tafk ! 

 How difficult, on many occafions, todifcover the motives of our 

 own conduct ! How difficult to afcertain the principles of action 

 that inftigate thofe perfons with whom we are daily converfant ! 

 How much more difficult to afcertain the motives of men who 

 lived many centuries ago, and with whofe private or peculiar 



habits 



