CHRONOLOGY. 



CHRONOLOGY. 



book* of Chronicle* contain many utriking Mid beautiful paarage*. such 

 a* I)mricl' prayer and thanksgiving for the people'* offering* towardi 

 building the temple; Abijah's addran to Jeroboam; Asa's prayer 

 before the battle again* Zerah the Ethiopian ; and many others. 



CHRONOLOGY (from the Greek word jgwroAoyk), literally signifies 

 "time-reckoning." In contradistinction to history, which connect* 

 rente according to the manner in which each i* produced or occa- 

 sioned by another, chronology regard* event* aimply according to the 

 order of time. It i* evidentThowevcr, that the ucca*ion of event* in 

 the order of time make* a very important part of their exposition in 

 the relation of cauae and effect ; for whatever elae there may be in the 

 bond which unite* what we call a cauae and it* effect, the circumstance 

 that the cauae precede* the effect in the order of time is always 

 present A history therefore cannot be written even in the loosest 

 manner, nor an intelligible narrative put together, without chronology 

 being *o far attended to that the event* shall be related in the order 

 in which they happened. Even what is called the epic method of 

 taking up the story in the thick of the interest rather than from the 

 beginning of the aerie* of event* out of which the interest grows, is no 

 exception. In whatever mode it may be thought best for the effect 

 intended to be produced that the several portions of the story should 

 be arranged and exhibited, each portion must in itself be detailed 

 chronologically, else it will be incomprehensible. And even in on epic 

 poem an order of time ia always strictly observed throughout, though 

 the poet may select a different series of event* through which to take 

 his course from that which would be adopted by the historian. In the 

 .nuid, for example, it is true that the event* of the shipwreck of 

 ./Eneas and hi* followers, and their reception by Queen Dido, which are 

 related in the first book of the poem, happened subsequently to the 

 destruction of Troy, and their adventures in the course of their navi- 

 gation to Carthage, which pass before the reader in the second and 

 third books ; but these last-mentioned event* are really not what the 

 poet professes to relate in these two books. What they profess to 

 contain is the discourse addressed by JEneas to Dido, at the banquet 

 in her palace ; and the delivery of this discourse happened not before 

 but after the events related in the first book of the poem. 



The order of a history, however, will often differ from that of a 

 purely chronological arrangement in this respect. In the former each 

 connected series of event* is related separately, and thus form a unity, 

 in which the progress and development of certain principles, causes, or 

 given condition* of society are exhibited. In the latter, event* of 

 various naturally distinct series are necessarily intermixed, nothing 

 being attended to except the order of time in which they happened. 

 Thus a mere chronological table, or chronicle, of the event* of the last 

 century would enumerate, under no arrangement except the order of 

 time, the events which had taken place during that period in all the 

 countries of the world, and in all the departments of human action, 

 and also it might be of inanimate nature ; if the scheme were com- 

 prehensive enough, the notice of an inundation of the ocean, or an 

 eruption of Vesuvius, might break in upon the detail of a succewion 

 of scientific discoveries, or the incidents of a political revolution. 

 History, in the pursuit of it* proper business of tracing each effect to 

 its cause, necessarily avoids this intermixture. It follows one ch.iin of 

 events, at least up to a certain point at which a pause may convenient 1 y 

 be made, and then it take* up another chain. Still each chain is con- 

 tinued in the chronological order of its link*. Every long history, 

 indeed, must in this way be properly a collection of many short 

 histories; and these latter will be numerous in proportion to the 

 extentand complexity of the subject. Neither a history nor a chronicle 

 need embrace all the recorded or remarkable events of the period 

 over which it professes to extend ; the one as well as the other may be 

 confined to event* or transactions of any particular kind, as well as 

 of any particular period. But whatever variety of matters may be 

 comprehended in a history, it is at the option of the historian, and 

 belongs to hi* art, to dispoee them into as many distinct narratives, or 

 portions of a narrative, a* may appear best suited for their clear and 

 effective exposition; whereas all the fact*, however various, wlii. I, .1 

 chronicle or chronological table may comprehend, must be related in 

 one narrative or aerie*. Though an intermixture of all kinds of event* 

 with those that more peculiarly belong to chronology, which are the 

 event* of political society, i* not unusual in tallies of chronology, the 

 vent* of any one branch of human action or speculation, or, as already 

 observed, the phenomena of nature, might often with more propriety 

 be exhibited in separate chronological table*. 



It ha* sometime* been attempted to combine in a chronological table, 

 with its own peculiar advantage*, something of thin distinctness or 

 separation of one subject from another which is found in a history, by 

 employing a particular form of type or other appropriated mark for 

 each series of connected event*. This method was first employed, as 

 far a* we know, and indeed it is there claimed as new, in a short 

 general chronological table at the end of the work entitled ' Element* 

 of General History ,' by Alexander Fraser Tytler (afterwards Lord 

 Woodhouselee), 2vol*., 8vo., Edinburgh, 1801. In this table the series 

 of the kings and emperors of Rome ia printed in a larger Roman type 

 than the rest of the table, that of the emperors of Germany in Italic 

 capitals, that of the king* of England in the old English letter, that of 

 the kino of _ Prance hi small Italics, Ac. " By this method," to quote 

 the explanation of the compiler, " the succession of the sovereigns in 



1 the different kingdoms i* immediately distinguuhable to the eye, as 

 well a* the duration of their reigns, while the intervening space is 

 filled by the remarkable event* that occurred at that period all over 

 the world ; and thus the connection of general history is preserved 

 unbroken." 



Some histories are written in a more, some in a leas strict chrono- 

 logical order. It is observed by Dionysius of Halioamassu*, in a com- 

 parison between Herodotus and Thucydides, that Thucydide* has 

 followed the order of time, Herodotus that of things, and that on thN 

 account Thucydides is obscure and difficult to understand. While 

 Thucydide*, he says, has divided his single subject into many parts, 

 Herodotus, having in his history embraced many different subject*, 

 has formed them into a single whole, of which the several part* 

 ly correspond. But though the method of Herodotus may be 

 the best adapted for conveying a clear view of each particular portion 

 of history of which he ha* treated, every series of naturally connected 

 event* forming a narrative or story by itself, it is not easy to gather 

 from his work any notion of the synchronism of events, or of the 

 relation of those of one series to those of another in point of time. 

 Larcher, in the preface to his French translation of Herodotus (edition 

 of 1802), has noticed that Photius has complained of the confusion 

 occasioned by the digressions of this author, and that other critics 

 have been disposed to deny that he followed any regular or intelligible 

 plan. Lurcher, however, dissents from this judgment, and explains 

 what he conceives to have been the plan of Herodotus (' Preface,' 

 pp. xxv.-xxxii.) He has also printed, with annotations, in his sixth 

 volume, three memoirs by the Abbd Geinoz, in vindication of Hero- 

 dotus against the attacks of Plutarch ; and of these the third 

 (pp. 601-627) is an exposition of the method and plan of the historian. 

 His history is of the form of an epic poem, of which the main subject 

 is the wars of the Greeks and Persians. The digressions, which corre- 

 spond to the episodes of an epic poem, and, as in the case of that on 

 Egypt, take up an entire book, render it very difficult for a young 

 student to form an idea of the history as a whole. But if the episodes 

 are cut out, the whole history exhibits the main subject in a regular 

 progress and order. The chronological system of Herodotus ha* been 

 amply illustrated by Larcher, in his ' Essai de Chronologic sur Hero- 

 dote,' printed in the sixth volume of his first edition (1786), and, 

 greatly altered and enlarged, in the seventh volume of hi* second 

 edition. 



But although both Herodotus and Thucydides have, each after his 

 own method, so far adhered to a chronological arrangement as to relate 

 the event* in the order of time in which they happened, neithei -of 

 these writers has throughout his narrative attended to chronology in 

 any scientific sense. They were both prevented from doing this by the 

 want, in that early age, of any fixed epoch or starting-point from which 

 to reckon. It has been well observed, that " the best simile for dates 

 is to say, that they ore to history what the latitude ami longitude are 

 ia navigation fixing the exact position of, and serving as unerring 

 iriii.le^ to, the object to which they are applied." (Nicolos's ' Chronology 

 nf History,' preface, p. vi.) In thi* view the histories of Herodotus 

 and Thucydide* may be compared to chart* or maps drawn without t lie 

 aid of parallels of latitude or meridian lines, in which indeed, the 

 situations of cities and mountains, the course* of rivers, and the 

 general form of countries and outline of coast*, might be represented 

 with a certain degree of correctness, but not with the precision requi- 

 site for any scientific purpose. Thucydides, however, in recording the 

 events of the Peloponneaian war, keeps to the order of the years ; and 

 he fixes the date of the commencement of the war (ii. 2), by referring 

 to the truce made after the capture of Euboca, to the priesthood of 

 Chrysis in Argos, to the ephorship of Ainesios at Sparta, and the archon- 

 ship of Pythodorus at Athens. In speaking of events that happened 

 long before the war (i. 13, 19), he refers to the end of the Pelopon- 

 nesian war as the point from which to reckon backwards. 



The determination of the length of the year and the regula) 

 the calendar appear to have occupied the attention of the ancient*, 

 before they ever thought of dating events from a fixed epoch. But the 

 latter object was of interest only to historical inquirers ; the former 

 matters were naturally in the hands of the cultivators of astronomy, 

 who were the best qualified for their management, and were besides 

 more immediately interesting and important to the whole community. 

 There is a curious passage in the ' Clouds ' of Aristophanes, in which 

 the clouds, addressing the people of Athens, report a complaint made 

 by the moon, about the displeasure she had incurred from the gods in 

 consequence of the confusion into which their festival days had fallen ; 

 the allusion, it has been supposed, being to Melon's reformation of the 

 calendar, which had recently been introduced. (' Clouds,' 603, 4c.) 

 Aristophanes was a contemporary of Thucydides. 



The first sora, or computation of time from an epoch, mode use of 

 among the Greeks wa* that of the Olympiads. " Hail, venerable 

 ( ilyinpiadi, ye guardian* of time, ye vindicators of the truth of history, 

 y I, i idlers in of the fanatical licence of chronologist* ! " exclaims 

 Joseph Scaliger, in his ' Animadversions on Eusebius,' in a paroxysm 

 of chronological enthusiasm. The date of the original institution of 

 the Olympic games i* placed in very remote antiquity ; but it was a 

 long time even after their revival by king Iphitus (B.C. 884) before 

 they came to be used for the purpose of fixing historical events. The 

 following paragraph is from the introduction to Playfair's ' Chronology,' 



