Happy Friday everyone! I’ve got something a little different for you this week! The one thing I’ve noticed about people that study history is that we are all passionate about it. We’ve all discovered the fun in studying history that comes from the discovery of the past. One of our friendly neighbourhood professors, Professor Greenfield, has graciously sent me an excerpt from a primary source that I’d like to share with all of you readers. The excerpt is from a longer piece called On Morals or Concerning Education written by Theodore Metochites (1270-1332). The following excerpt talks about a historian’s love of history. So, without further ado, please enjoy!
Theodore Metochites (1270-1332), On Morals or Concerning Education, 25.1-4
(trans, Sophia Xenophontos under the above title, Harvard UP, forthcoming 2020; with some tweaks by RG)
“But the inclination toward history instills in the soul a truly invincible passion to study in due moderation the narrative of past events, along with such an incomparable charm that it constantly stings and pricks it, and no one can understand it at all, unless he has experienced it personally.
For human curiosity on such issues can never be sated or moderated in any way, nor would it be content to maintain itself in tranquility. To the contrary, the person who studies history and is always learning something, in my opinion, is somehow constantly engrossed by sleepless and untiring longing, and searches for and accomplishes things previously unknown to them. Because of the goad of their previous discoveries, they look for the traces of hidden events and unearth those that took place long ago and have been buried by additional onslaughts of events that have occurred in the meantime.
Therefore, just as people who seek wealth do not understand what moderation is, never cease and desist to aspire to get more and, no matter how much they have amassed, do not admit that they have enough for the future and choose to restrain themselves but to the contrary constantly contrive enormous projects with great zeal on both land and sea and think of every possible means they can to harvest wealth, so I assume that the lovers of history follow the same route in this case. They too are unable to control themselves or abstain from their passion even for a moment, and they cannot relinquish their obsession with investigating past events and collecting information or set a limit on their passion. Indeed, they rush about endlessly and strive to mix in the new riches of constant studying with their previous accomplishments, without losing their force or shrinking from any profitable labor in even the most trivial matters. If they can possess everything, they prefer to keep it all by their side and be lacking nothing, like extremely wealthy men who choose to enjoy luxury and arrange sybaritic banquets. Nor do they employ only the necessary and indispensable ingredients, but instead they serve every food delicately prepared, and try to think of something novel and dress their dishes artificially to the extent this is possible; they also attempt to avail themselves of the products of the land and the sea and all other available commodities, without hesitating or excluding anything. Likewise, the lovers of historical research neglect nothing and truly enjoy everything as a constant, noble pleasure.”