"... the Greeks themselves also used to write, in the

beginning, just like our Cato, Pictor and Piso. For history

began as a mere compilation of annals, on which

account, and in order to preserve the general traditions,

from the earliest period of the City down to the pontificate

of Publius Mucius, each High Priest used to commit

to writing all the events of his year of office, and

record them on a white surface, and post up the tablet

at his house, that all men might have liberty to acquaint

themselves therewith, and to this day those records are

known as the Pontifical Chronicles. A similar style of

writing has been adopted by many who, without any

rhetorical ornament, have left behind them bare records

of dates, personalities, places and events. In this sense

Pherecydes, Hellanicus, Acusilas, and very many others

among the Greeks, correspond to our own Cato, Pictor

and Piso, who do not understand the adornment of composition

- since it is only of late that decoration of that

sort has been brought into this country - and, so long as

their narrative is understood, regard coneiseness as the

historian's single merit."