Outline of the Principles of History'
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O U T L I N E O F T H E PRI NCI PLES OF H I ST ORY' (GRUNDRISS DER HISTORH O T A D J O H A N N G U S V R O Y S E N, L AT E PRO FE S SOR O F H ISTORY I N T H E NI V E RSITY O F B E RLIN U . WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR . TRANSLATED B Y B J M I D R S E . E N A N A N E W , PR ES I DENT O F B R O WN UNIV E R S IT Y. ’ l 7 o c B N A O STO U . S . , . G I N N O M P A N Y C . 1 8 9 3 . PYR I H T 1 8 C O G , 93 , ‘ B E M DR EW S . B Y E . NJA IN AN A LL R IG H T S R ES ER V ED . (Binn 8 C ompany C he E tbenaeum Dress JBoston C NT ENT S O . ’ TRANSLATOR S PR E FAC E ’ A U THOR S PR E FAC E TO T H E THIRD EDITION B IOG RAPHICAL S K E TC H OF D ROYS E N O U TLINE O F T H E PRINCIPL E S O F HISTORY . INTRODU CTION II T H E HISTORICAL M E THOD . " III T H E PROB LE M OF THIS U TLINE . O T H E DOCTRINE OF I INV E NTION . II CRITICISM . N E P E A ION III . I T R R T T T H E K Y I N E I . WOR OF HISTOR R LATION TO ITS K I NDS OF MATTE R T H E O K O HIS O Y I N E LA IO O I S II . W R F T R R T N T T T H E K I N III . WOR OF HISTORY R E LATIONTO T H E WOR K E RS V T H E K Y I . WOR OF HISTOR I N R E LATION T o ITS ENDS T H E DOCTRINE OF S YSTE M ATIC PRE SE NTATION N X . T H E E APPE DI I E L V ATION OF HISTORY TO T H E RANK OF A S CI E NC E PPE N I X A ND HIS O Y D II . TU RE A T R A N . AND E APPENDI X III . ART M THOD INDE X LAT R ’ S PR EFAC E T R ANS O . I BECAME interested in Professor Droysen a s an his u o n torian so early as 1 882 . In real grasp p the nature and meaning of history he seemed to me the superior R This n o t . o f a n k e . view I have changed To assist myself in comprehending his very deep thoughts I soon began a translation o f the H isto r ik . At first I had no o f idea of publishing , but as the value the little work impressed me more and more deeply, I at last deter mined t o English it for others . I subsequently laid the matter before Droysen , receiving his approval in the genial letter which appears upon a preceding page . I expected to finish the work in a few months from o f the date this letter, but more pressing labors came and became permanent, so commanding my time that I have never since been able to devote to the tra n sla A . t tion more than now and then an hour last, how so ever, after many years , it is completed, and I give . Th s it to the public , appendices and all e e greatly " "O elucidate the utline proper, and may very appro ’ pria te ly be read first . Those who know Dro yse n s cum brous yet nervous and abbreviated style o f writing will n o t estimate the extent o f my toil by the number o f pages in thi s book . S h uch was my reverence for Droysen t at, after his 1 884 f ‘ death in , I cherished the hope o preparing a ’ F vi TRANSLATOR S PRE ACE . - brief biography of him . I relinquished this half formed purpose partly for lack of time, and partly because o f several excellent sketches him presently appeared . Iva n Max Duncker himself wrote two of these , one in ’ Miille r s Biographical Year- Book for the Knowledge o f Antiquity, also published separately , and a more o n e - extended in the Prussian Year Book for August , 1 884 LI V H e t vo n ( , f edited by Treitschke and Del ’ Dr n briick . o se s Duncker was y close friend, and had access to much helpful material in manuscript . I i n cli n e d to translate o n e o f his pieces for u se in this th e o f volume , but upon reflection thought biography Dr . Hermann Krii ge r likely t o be more interesting to . e . so n o f American readers Prof ssor G Droysen , the " " ’ O K rii e r s author of the utline , considers g account on the whole better than aught else which was written ’ i upon his father s life and work . Th s biography first came o u t in the form of articles in the Mecklenburg An z ei er o n e S 2 g , the last appearing on aturday, August , 1 4 88 . Krii e r e o f g , too , was an intimat friend Droy ’ sen s . I could not have hoped to write anything better than what these two competent and privileged bio gra h e rs . p had presented Besides , it was intimated to me that Professor G . Droysen would sometime publish a ’ still ampler history o f his di stinguished father s life . It is a reflection upon our times that such a man as Droysen should so soon even seem to be forgotten . I say thi s notwithstandi ng certain reasons for apathy toward him grounded in the nature and habits of the man . O wing to his intense application , and also to his h simple honesty , forbidding in him those arts by whic some German professors are popular, Droysen founded , ’ vii TRANSLATOR S PREFACE . o f properly speaking, no school , though several the German historians who earned fame during his last d years and after his death were his pupils , inspire by his spirit and impressing upon their works the stamp o f Grii n his manner . Among these may be mentioned o f o n hagen, Breslau , who has written so well the first S d two ilesian Wars Reinhol Koser, of Berlin , who has edi ted several volumes Of the Political C orrespondence S I sa a cso hn of Frederick the Great and . , author of the ’ O f excellent Ge schzchte d es p reu ssischen B e a m ten thu m s . Grii n ha e n these Koser is perhaps the ablest, though g is hi hi wh o famous for s fairness . In t s he excels Droysen , was often t o o controversial and always too favorable to Prussia . But not o n e o f these younger historians so much as approaches the mas ter in that wonderful wealth and control o f materials exhibited by him in his x ’ ’ t - Ge sckzch e d e r p r e u sszschen P o litik . The O utline as it appears in English is in cert ain points somewhat more than a reflex o f the original . ’ a Dro se n s In those paragr phs of y , and they are not so h few, which he painfully abbreviated, leaving t em hardly more than strings o f catch- words fo r lecture - room amplification , the statements have been carefully pieced o u t s m into a fullnes that will , it is hoped, give the clear . L meaning For the Greek , atin , French , and Italian h l di with whic the author loved to inter ard his scourse , E u nglish has in most cases been substit ted, the origi nal being given either in brackets o r in the margin . A few brief explanatory notes have been added at points where they seem most necessary . ’ I consider Dro yse n s H i sto rik the weightiest book of its d o u r h size compose in century, weightier t an any ’ TRANSLATOR S PREFACE . ll H l . other, sma or great, save certain treatises by ege Ye t I know the present tendency of historical study to o well to expect that all the English and American h l historical sc olars wil read this book who , in my judg l . ment , would great y profit by reading it In most directions o n e finds a stronger zeal for the knowledge f r o f history than o the understanding of history . We are so busy at gathering facts that no time is left us t o reflect upon their deeper meanings . Too many who wish to be considered historians seem hardly less o f ro enthusiastic over the history some town pump , p " " " " vid e d it is fresh and written from the sources , than over that of the rise o f a constitution .