e related only what he actually saw. In a word, the question of his
credibility has been discussed by successive generations of scholars
ever since his day, and strong parties have been formed who have gone
to extremes in the opinions they have taken; so that, while some
confer upon him the title of the father of _history_, others say
it would be more in accordance with his merits to call him the
father of _lies_. In controversies like this, and, in fact, in all
controversies, it is more agreeable to the mass of mankind to take
sides strongly with one party or the other, and either to believe or
disbelieve one or the other fully and cordially. There is a class of
minds, however, more calm and better balanced than the rest, who can
deny themselves this pleasure, and who see that often, in the most
bitter and decided controversies, the truth lies between. By this
class of minds it has been generally supposed that the narratives of
Herodotus are substantially true, though in many cases highly colored
and embellished, or, as Cicero called it, adorned, as, in fact, they
inevitably must have been under the circumstances in which they were
written.

We can not follow minutely the circumstances of the subsequent life
of Herodotus. He became involved in some political disturbances and
difficulties in his native state after his return, in consequence of
which he retired, partly a fugitive and partly an exile, to the island
of Samos, which is at a little distance from Caria, and not far from
the shore. Here he lived for some time in seclusion, occupied in
writing out his history. He divided it into nine books, to which,
respectively, the names of the nine Muses were afterward given, to
designate them. The island of Samos, where this great literary work
was performed, is very near to Patmos, where, a few hundred years
later, the Evangelist John, in a similar retirement, and in the use
of the same language and character, wrote the Book of Revelation.

When a few of the first books of his history were completed, Herodotus
went with the manuscript to Olympia, at the great celebration of the
81st Olympiad. The Olympiads were periods recurring at intervals of
about four years. By means of them the Greeks reckoned their time.
The Olympiads were celebrated as they occurred, with games, shows,
spectacles, and parades, which were conducted on so magnificent a
scale that vast crowds were accustomed to assemble from every part of
Greece to