IV. Conceptions of the Purpose and Content of History.[1] ]
1. As polite literature: the Greek and Roman idea, e.g., Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Livy, Sallust, Cæsar, Tacitus.
2. As annals and chronicles only: the Mediæval idea, e.g., Gregory of Tours, Froissart, Einhard.
3. As a basis for governmental policies and as a means of interpreting literature: the Renaissance idea, e.g., Machiavelli, Petrarch, Boccaccio.
4. As a basis for theological dogma and religious practices: the Reformation idea, e.g., Luther, Melanchthon, and the Jesuits.
5. As a basis for interpreting legal institutions and practices: the idea of the 17th century, e.g., the Jurists.
6. As a foundation for philosophical speculation and a means of discovering the deeper influences that affect humanity and hence influence action and produce events: the idea of the 18th century, e.g., Voltaire and Montesquieu. [Voltaire held that human nature is the same under all circumstances and at all times, and hence sought to judge historical events by abstract universal standards. The "natural man" was his ideal man. Montesquieu, in The Spirit of the Laws, sought to show that events in history are but the manifestation of spiritual law, as revealed in conditions of climate, geography, soil, natural resources, racial temperament, etc.]
7. As a foundation for personal reactions, e.g., criticisms, interpretation, moralizing, personal philosophizing, or as mere facts entertainingly told: the idea of the early 19th century.
8. History as science, i.e., as explanatory of existing social institutions, customs, beliefs: the idea of the 20th century.