Thucydides' Method

Thucydides explains how he wrote his history differently from poets and chroniclers before him. He criticizes those who accept "the first story that comes to hand" and dismisses both poets (who exaggerate) and chroniclers (who sacrifice truth for entertainment). He explains his method: testing evidence rigorously, not trusting even his own impressions, and accepting that different eyewitnesses disagree. He admits that for speeches, he reconstructed what speakers "ought to have said." His famous conclusion: "The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future... I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time."