GERARD JOHANNES VOSSIUS

THE ART OF HISTORY,

or

A BOOK CONCERNING

The Nature of the Art of History and of History itself,

and the Rules for Writing History.

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CHAPTER I.

The difference between the art of history and history. The true origin etymon: the linguistic root or derivation of a word of history is brought forward against Servius and Isidore. A judgment on the origins proposed by Plato and Varro. History is three-fold. The name of history is also given to the study of universal matters, and even to refined philosophy. What explanatory exēgētikē: a Greek term meaning explanatory, descriptive, or narrative history is, and how far it extends. The difference between proper history, annals, and daily records. The four-fold opinion of the ancients on the specific concept of history. The error of Francesco Patrizi. Clarity for Apuleius. Cicero is refuted, as is Cornificius. Why the art of history deals only briefly with the writing of annals.

A decorative woodcut initial 'Q' features a central rose within a circular frame of leaves and petals.

a Tertullian, On the Military Crown; Plautus, The Haunted House; Festus; Hesychius.

Just as the ancients were accustomed to decorate their doors, either with one of the gods of the nations, or with a raven, or a vulture, or some other ornament ᵃ: so today it is also rightly in use to entice the reader with some attraction at the start of a work to look further within. However, this will not be my concern now; rather, I will begin this treatment of the historical faculty from the simplest things, most well-known to the public. Certainly, nothing should be placed more beyond controversy than that the art of history original: "historice." Vossius uses this Greek term to denote the discipline or theory of history, as opposed to the historical narrative itself. differs from history, just as the art of poetry is distinguished from poetry. For both