108 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



of the dead, &quot;of. happy memory! of pious memory!&quot; etc., 

 we seem to acknowledge, with Cicero and Demosthenes, 

 &quot;that a good name is the proper inheritance of the de 

 ceased&quot;; 6 which inheritance is lying waste in our time, 

 and deserves to be noticed as a deficiency. 



In the business of relations it is, also, to be wished that 

 greater diligence were employed; for there is no signal ac 

 tion, but has some good pen to describe it. But very few 

 being qualified to write a complete history, suitable to its 

 dignity (a thing wherein so many have failed), if memorable 

 acts were but tolerably related as they pass, this might lay 

 the foundations, and afford materials for a complete history 

 of times, when a writer should arise equal to the work. 



CHAPTER VIII 



Division of the History of Times into Universal and Particular. The Ad 

 vantages and Disadvantages of both 



HISTORY of times is either general or particular, as 

 it relates the transactions of the whole world, or of 

 a certain kingdom or nation. And there have been 

 those who would seem to give us the history of the world 

 from its origin; but, in reality, offer only a rude collec 

 tion of things, and certain short narratives instead of a 

 history; while others have nobly, and to good advantage, 

 endeavored to describe, as in a just history, the memor 

 able things, which in their time happened over all the 

 globe. For human affairs are not so far divided by em 

 pires and countries, but that in many cases they still pre 

 serve a connection: whence it is proper enough to view, 

 as in one picture, the fates of an age. And such a gen 

 eral history as this may frequently contain particular rela 

 tions, which, though of value, might otherwise either be 



5 Demosth. adv. Lept. 488. 



