论西塞罗的历史观

On Cicero's Historical View

西塞罗在《论演说家》(De Oratore)中阐述了历史的特性、历史的目的以及应该怎样写作历史。他对这一问题的看法没有超出修辞学家的认识范畴,认为历史写作应该强调两个方面,即历史的"真实"和文学的加工,"真实"在他那里其实是"公正",而文学的渲染则体现了历史应该具有的教化功能。他的历史理论和方法对后来罗马史学的发展产生了深远的影响。

In the work De Oratore, Cicero expatiated upon the characteristic s of history as a subject and the points on how to compile the events of history, which still fell into the cognitive category of rhetoricians. The usual notion of the factiou is that two facets of historieal writing should be emphasized which are respectively ＂sincerity＂ and literary embellishment. The concepl of ＂sincerity＂ actually stresses being impartial, while hterary embellishment implies that history should be endued with moralizing functions. Based on these findings, we may conelnde that the Roman historiography is affected by Cicero＇ s historical philosophy.