good opportunities of knowing the circumstances? Had he any interest in
the event--personal, or partisan, or patriotic? Such interests would
colour his report; and so would the love of telling a dramatic story, if
that was a weakness of his. Nay, a love of truth might lead him to
modify the report of what he remembered if--as he remembered it--the
matter seemed not quite credible. We must also bear in mind that, for
want of training, precision in speaking the truth is not understood or
appreciated by many honest people even now, still less in unscientific
ages.

Oral tradition is formed by passing a report from one to another,
generation by generation; and it is generally true that such a tradition
loses credit at every step, because every narrator has some weakness.
However, the value of tradition depends upon the motives people have to
report correctly, and on the form of the communication, and on whether
monuments survive in connection with the story. Amongst the things best
remembered are religious and magic formulae, heroic poems, lists of
ancestors, popular legends about deeply impressive events, such as
migrations, conquests, famines, plagues. We are apt now to underrate the
value of tradition, because the use of writing has made tradition less
important, and therefore less pains are taken to preserve it. In the
middle of last century, it was usual (and then quite justifiable) to
depreciate oral tradition as nearly worthless; but the spread of
archaeological and anthropological research, and the growth of the
Comparative Method, have given new significance to legends and
traditions which, merely by themselves, could not deserve the slightest
confidence.

(2) As to written evidence, contemporary inscriptions--such as are found
on rocks and stones and bricks in various parts of the world, and most
abundantly in Egypt and Western Asia--are of the highest value, because
least liable to fraudulent abuse; but must be considered with reference
to the motives of those who set them forth. Manuscripts and books give
rise to many difficulties. We have to consider whether they were
originally written by some one contemporary with the events recorded: if
so they have the same value as immediate oral testimony, provided they
have not been tampered with since. But if not contemporary records, they
may have been derived from other records that were contemporary, or only
from oral tradition. In the latter case they are vitiated