Historian, was of Halicarnassus, but afterwards he was called the Thurian, because he accompanied the colony which went to establish themselves at Thurium." Strabo, book 14.

Pliny has an expression relating to Herodotus, which many have misinterpreted. "Auctor," says he, "ille Herodotus historiam condidit, Thuriis in Italiâ;" which has been understood as asserting that he wrote his history at Thurium. But this is impossible in fact, because I have shewn, that many years before he went to Thurium at all, he had publicly recited his work, or certain portions of it, on two very memorable occasions; at the Olympic games, and at Athens. It is therefore more reasonable and consistent to understand by this expression of Pliny, that he revised, corrected, and perhaps enlarged his history at Thurium. Suidas positively declares, that Herodotus died at Thurium; and though he mentions, as I have before intimated, that some affirmed him to have died at Pella, he produces no authority, which he would probably have done, if there had been any that deserved much notice. This assertion therefore appears not to claim any great degree of confidence. But an argument against his having died at Thurium rests on a passage which occurs in the Life of Thucydides, by Marcellinus,

who

who affirms, that the tomb of Herodotus was to be seen at Athens, amongst the monuments of Cimon. The president Bouhier has from this concluded and asserted that he died at Athens. Of this the question of M. Larcher, as he has applied it from Dodwell, seems a sufficient and satisfactory refutation. How can it be proved, says the learned Frenchman, that this was not a cenotaph, one of those marks of honour frequently paid to illustrious characters, without regarding the place where they might happen to die? Stephen of Byzantium gives an inscription, said to have been found at Thurium, which asserts unequivocally, "This earth contains in its bosom, Herodotus son of Lyxes, a Dorian by birth, but the most illus→ "trious of the Ionian historians."

Of the works of Herodotus we have remaining those nine books, to which the names of The Nine Muses have been respectively annexed; upon which subject I have spoken in a note at the beginning of the third book". Whether he ever

wrote

d Whether Herodotus conferred this name on his works. himself, or whether it was given by any other, succeeding writers have followed the example. Eschines composed nine epistles and three orations, which were distinguished by the appellation of the Nine Muses, and the Three Graces. Photius also observes, that Cephaleon gave the name of the

Nine

wrote any thing else, has been a matter of much controversy among scholars. Certain allusions and expressions, to be found in the Nine Muses, seem at first sight to justify the opinion, that we do not possess all his works. But this must ever remain a matter of extreme uncertainty; yet it becomes me to add, that there are no references pointed out by the learned, to any other of his works, in any ancient author. Aristotle, in his History of Animals, book viii. chap. 18, censures Herodotus for saying, that at the siege of Ninos an eagle was seen to drink, when it is notorious that all birds yaufwvxes, having crooked claws, never do drink. Now it is certain, that no such expression occurs in what we have remaining of Herodotus. Probably," says Fabricius, in reply to this, "Aristotle might have a more perfect 66 copy

66

Nine Muses to his nine books of Abridgment of General History. Diogenes Laertius informs us, that Bion called his performance of nine books by the same title. But the reader must not confound this Bion with him whose life is given by Laertius. At the conclusion of that life the biographer tells us there were ten eminent men of the name of Bion. The sixth was a rhetorician, of whose writings there are nine books, each book under the appellation of a particular Muse. Aulus Gellius also, book i. chap. 25, informs us, that among the Latin writers, Publius Aurelius Opilius called his works by the name of the Nine Muses.

26

copy of the Nine Muses, than has come down

The style of Herodotus might well demand a separate dissertation: this, perhaps, is not the properest place to speak at any length upon the subject'. It has been universally admired for being, beyond that of all other Greek writers of Prose, pure and perspicuous. Cicero calls it fusum atque tractum, at the same time copious and polished. Aristotle gives it as an example of the aegis eigoμevn, which is literally, the connected style; but, as he explains himself, it means rather what we should call the flowing style; wherein the sentences are not involved or complicated by art, but are connected by simple conjunctions, as they follow in natural order, and have no full termination

• Or why, it may be asked, should it be thought improbable to suppose that Aristotle might be mistaken, and quote Herodotus instead of some other author?

f The following are among the passages in Cicero's works, in which he makes honourable mention of Herodotus.

Atqui tanta est eloquentia, ut me quantum ego Græce scripta intelligere possum, magnopere delectet.-De Oratore, 1. 11.

In his Brutus he says,

Sine salebris quasi sedatus amnis fluit.

In his Hortensius,

Quid aut Herodoto dulcius aut Thucydide gravius?

mination but in the close of the sense.

This he

opposes to that style which is formed into regular periods, and rather censures it as keeping the reader in uneasy suspense, and depriving him of the pleasure which arises from foreseeing the conclusion. The former, he says, was the method of the ancients; the latter of his contemporaries. (Rhet. iii. 9.) His own writings afford an example of the latter style, cut into short and frequent periods, but certainly much less pleasing than the flowing and natural smoothness of Herodotus. Plutarch, who wrote a treatise expressly to derogate from the fame and authority of Herodotus, in more places than one, speaks of his diction with the highest commendation. Longinus also, as may be seen in various passages which I have introduced, and commented upon in the progress of my work, added his tribute to the universal praise.

8 Quintilian, in his ninth book, observes,

Every

In Herodoto vero cum omnia ut ego quidem sentio leniter fluant tum ipse dialectus habet eam jucunditatem ut latentes etiam numeros complexa videatur.

And again in the following book, where he draws a comparison between Herodotus and Thucydides, he says, dulcis, et candidus et fusus Herodotus.

The following passage from Dionysius of Halicarnassus is too remarkable to be omitted.-Herodotus very much surpassed all others in the choice of his words, the justice of his composition, and the variety of his figures. His discourse is com

posed