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REGARDING THE HISTORY

OF AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS

Preface

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS DIONYSIUS GOTHOFREDUS, Denis Godefroy (1549–1622) was a celebrated French jurist and scholar, famous for his edition of the Corpus Juris Civilis. Distinguished Legal Scholar.

An ornamental woodcut drop cap 'C' is set inside a square frame. It depicts a scholar or cleric seated at a writing desk with a book and quill, surrounded by decorative scrollwork, symbolizing the scholarly labor involved in this edition. Since wise men wish this purpose to be set for history—that men should have an abundance of lessons for living well—nothing indeed seems more useful than the reading of histories, both for the forming of character and for the governance of the State. original: Respublica. While it can mean "Republic," here it refers generally to public affairs or the commonwealth. Let us see, then, whether that which is said of history in general may be rightly attributed to the work of Marcellinus. Philosophers teach that prudence, which is the art of living, is acquired through instruction and experience; they say that the former is gained by reflection and study, the latter through the passage of time. The former deals with general principles, while the latter deals with specific cases; and while theory may sometimes be deceived, experience never can be—so much so that experience is held by the greatest right to be the best teacher of life. And yet, in the books of Marcellinus, there occur not "silent precepts" as in moral philosophy, but living examples of life, which [draw] us from— The text ends mid-sentence at the conclusion of the page.