2008/03/22 - Polybius: The Histories - Book 1

1 Had previous chroniclers neglected to speak in praise of History in general, it might perhaps have been necessary for me to recommend everyone to choose for study and welcome such treatises as the present, since men have no more ready corrective of conduct than knowledge of the past. 2 But all historians, one may say without exception, and in no half-hearted manner, but making this the beginning and end of their labour, have impressed on us that the soundest education and training for a life of active politics is the study of History, and that surest and indeed the only method of learning how to bear bravely the vicissitudes of fortune, is to recall the calamities of others. 3 Evidently therefore no one, and least of all myself, would think it his duty at this day to repeat what has been so well and so often said. 4 For the very element of unexpectedness in the events I have chosen as my theme will be sufficient to challenge and incite everyone, young and old alike, to peruse my systematic history. 5 For who is so worthless or indolent as not to wish to know by what means and under what system of polity the Romans in less than fifty-three years have succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole inhabited world to their sole government — a thing unique in history? 6 Or who again is there so passionately devoted to other spectacles or studies as to regard anything as of greater moment than the acquisition of this knowledge?

若使以前记述岁月之流转的史学者们，忘了去称赞普遍含义上的历史，那我便或许有必要来予以补充，并推荐每一个人去学习她，接受她，把她当成一份宝贵的馈赠，因为，论到纠正不当行为的良药，还没有什么比起对过去的了解更为有效。所有的历史学者，可说无一例外地，并且毫不犹豫地，从一切言辞的开始到结束，都极其强调两点：一是学习历史是最好的、针对从政生涯的学习和训练；二是牢记过往之人的悲剧和灾祸是最确实也唯一的帮助你度过无常之命运的方法。显然可见，不会有人―至少不是我―会觉得他于今日的职责是重复之前人所善于描述并且经常描述的东西。我所选取的内容是出乎意料的，这足以使任何人，不管长幼，都有仔细阅读我的历史体系的兴趣。在不到53年的时间内，罗马是通过何种方法，利用何种政治体系，成功地君临几乎整个人类世界的呢？究竟有谁，会懒惰、低劣到对这一历史上独一无二的事例了无兴趣呢？又究竟有谁，能够对其他事物报以巨大的热情，却对这一比起任何领域都更为显赫的知识了无学习之欲呢？