92 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [Il.5. 
more purely and exactly true than histories of times, 
because they may choose an argument comprehensible 
within the notice and instructions of the writer: whereas 
he that undertaketh the story of a time, specially of any 
length, cannot but meet with many blanks and spaces 
which he must be forced to fill up out of his own wit: 
and conjecture. 
6. For the history of times (I mean of civil history), 
the providence of God hath made the distribution. For 
it hath pleased God to ordain and illustrate two exemplar 
states of the world for arms, learning, moral virtue, policy, 
and laws; the state of Grecia and the state of Rome; 
the histories whereof, occupying the middle part of time, 
have more ancient to them histories which may by one 
common name be termed the antiquities of the world: 
and after them, histories which may be likewise called by 
the name of modern history. 
4. Now to speak of the deficiences. As to the hea- 
then antiquities of the world, it is in vain to note them 
for deficient. Deficient they are no doubt, consisting 
most of fables and fragments; but the deficience cannot 
be holpen ; for antiquity is like fame, caput infer nubila 
condit, her head is muffled from our sight. For the his- 
tory of the exemplar states it is extant in good perfection. 
Not but I could wish there were a perfect course of 
history for Grecia from Theseus to Philopoemen (what 
time the affairs of Grecia drowned and extinguished 
in the affairs of Rome), and for Rome from Romulus 
to Justinianus, who may be truly said to be uwlimus 
Romanorum. In which sequences of story the text of 
Thucydides and Xenophon in the one, and the texts 
of Livius, Polybius, Sallustius, Cesar, Appianus, Tacitus, 
Herodianus in the other, to be kept entire without any 
