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Jan. 8th, 2020 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timelets...loyalty to friends and country are good qualities, as is having the same enemies and friends as one’s friends—when a man takes on the role of historian, he must put all such considerations out of his mind: he often has to speak well of his enemies, and even honour them with words of undiluted praise, when their actions demand it; and he often has to challenge and censure his closest friends unforgivingly, when their errors suggest that this is appropriate.
An animal is completely useless if it loses its eyesight, and in the same way history without truth has as little educational value as a yarn. That is why a historian should not hesitate either to condemn his friends or praise his enemies, and should not worry about praising and blaming the same people at different times. After all, it is as impossible for men of action to always get things right as it is unlikely that they will constantly go wrong.
--- Polybius, The Histories.
An animal is completely useless if it loses its eyesight, and in the same way history without truth has as little educational value as a yarn. That is why a historian should not hesitate either to condemn his friends or praise his enemies, and should not worry about praising and blaming the same people at different times. After all, it is as impossible for men of action to always get things right as it is unlikely that they will constantly go wrong.
--- Polybius, The Histories.
