(11) There is yet another partition of history which Cornelius
Tacitus maketh, which is not to be forgotten, specially with that
application which he accoupleth it withal, annals and journals:
appropriating to the former matters of estate, and to the latter
acts and accidents of a meaner nature. For giving but a touch of
certain magnificent buildings, he addeth, Cum ex dignitate populi
Romani repertum sit, res illustres annalibus, talia diurnis urbis
actis mandare. So as there is a kind of contemplative heraldry, as
well as civil. And as nothing doth derogate from the dignity of a
state more than confusion of degrees, so it doth not a little imbase
the authority of a history to intermingle matters of triumph, or
matters of ceremony, or matters of novelty, with matters of state.
But the use of a journal hath not only been in the history of time,
but likewise in the history of persons, and chiefly of actions; for
princes in ancient time had, upon point of honour and policy both,
journals kept, what passed day by day.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155