oniclers;
for, to all appearance, it was he that launched into the world
the kings Aventinus and Tiberinus and the Alban gens of the Silvii,
whom the following times accordingly did not neglect to furnish
in detail with name, period of reigning, and, for the sake of greater
definiteness, also a portrait.

Thus from various sides the historical romance of the Greeks
finds its way into Roman historiography; and it is more than probable
that not the least portion of what we are accustomed nowadays
to call tradition of the Roman primitive times proceeds from sources
of the stamp of Amadis of Gaul and the chivalrous romances
of Fouque--an edifying consideration, at least for those who have
a relish for the humour of history and who know how to appreciate
the comical aspect of the piety still cherished in certain circles
of the nineteenth century for king Numa.

Universal History
Nepos

A novelty in the Roman literature of this period is the appearance
of universal history or, to speak more correctly, of Roman
and Greek history conjoined, alongside of the native annals.
Cornelius Nepos from Ticinum (c. 650-c. 725) first supplied
an universal chronicle (published before 700) and a general collection
of biographies--arranged according to certain categories--of Romans
and Greeks distinguished in politics or literature or of men
at any rate who exercised influence on the Roman or Greek history.
These works are of a kindred nature with the universal histories
which the Greeks had for a considerable time been composing;
and these very Greek world-chronicles, such as that of Kastor son-in-law
of the Galatian king Deiotarus, concluded in 698, now began to include
in their range the Roman history which previously they had neglected.
These works certainly attempted, just like Polybius, to substitute
the history of the Mediterranean world for the more local one;
but that which in Polybius was the result of a grand and clear
conception and deep historical feeling was in these chronicles
rather the product of the practical exigencies of school
and self-instruction. These general chronicles, text-books
for scholastic instruction or manuals for reference, and the whole
literature therewith connected which subsequently became very copious
in the Latin language also, can hardly be reckoned as belonging
to artistic historical composition; and Nepos himself in particular
was a pure compiler distinguished neither by spirit nor even merely