Classical Wisdom Litterae - Nov 2018

Golden Age of Latin Literature, and a contemporary of men like Virgil, Horace and Ovid, he may have been much more concerned that his prose was purple than precise. The underlying question that we’re left with then is: ‘Who is better, Polybius or Livy? Despite my own personal love for Polybius, I cannot find any ammunition with which to argue that he is more entertaining or accessible than the text of Livy. Meanwhile it’s hard to deny the allure of Livy’s work. Therefore, we have to ask yet another question: Do we ‘learn’ more with an entertaining tale? Well… possibly, though possibly not. To be accurate we should say we learn less, but learn more easily and swiftly. So where does such thinking lead us? Shall we watch Braveheart to learn about British history? Or read Dan Brown to learn about Da Vinci? The very notion repulses. These two examples are perhaps perverse extremes. There are other, more moderate illustrations such as HBO’s Rome . It has all the main historical events in the right place and looks astonishingly good, but it too must be taken with a pinch of salt. It seems that Professor Watt’s proclamation about the incompatibility of truth and entertainment is not without its supporting evidence… But, in our humble opinion, there is still a place for the trustworthy historian. It is because we have such confidence in his or her credibility that we are overawed by the truth they communicate… and so the long dead world comes alive on the page. Take, for instance, Thucydides’ accounts of the Athenian plague or Polybius’ of the inadequacy and pomposity of Roman social climbers. They resound strongly, simply because they are believed. So while I would always advocate reading the more accurate source, I feel it is still better to read something rather than nothing. People should enjoy history, not neglect it on the bedside cabinet. Whatever the source and whatever the motivation, it is hard to argue with the words of a man who knew a thing or two about writing, William Faulkner: “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read!” S O WHERE DOES SUCH THINKING LEAD US ? S HALL WE WATCH B RAVEHEART TO LEARN ABOUT B RITISH HISTORY ? O R READ D AN B ROWN TO LEARN ABOUT D A V INCI ? T HE VERY NOTION REPULSES .” British History as taught by an Australian XXXVI