Histoires (Hérodote)

Overview

The Histories (Greek Historíai, "inquiries") of Herodotus of Halicarnassus (fifth century BC) are the founding work of history in Western literature: nine books on the origins and course of the Greco-Persian Wars, interwoven with accounts of Egypt, Scythia, Babylon and Lydia (Wikipedia, "Histories (Herodotus)"). The French reader of Marie's time knew it chiefly as the Histoire d'Hérodote, in the translation by Pierre-Henri Larcher (first published 1786), often reprinted: the Charpentier edition of 1850, with Larcher's learned notes, is on French Wikisource.

Marie and Herodotus

Marie reads Herodotus in French in the summer of 1875, as part of her self-set classical programme.

• 13 June 1875 (034.0211): someone looking at the book in her hands exclaims "Oh ! ho ! ho !" on seeing that it is "l'Histoire d'Hérodote": the title she uses, which matches Larcher's.
• 22 June 1875 (034.0538): "Je lis Hérodote et on comprendra qu'il faut des distractions pendant cette lecture. C'est intéressant, mais ne peut s'avaler en un jour comme un roman. On doit lire avec [...] attention, se rappeler des faits précédents et penser à ce qu'on lit."
• 24 June 1875 (034.0561): "Hérodote commence à m'amuser sérieusement, je trouve dans lui des naïvetés incomparables. Il comprend une multitude de choses, c'est un charme."
• 9 September 1875 (042.0027): a novel bought at a railway station is thrown out of the window ("de peur de gâter mon style déjà si mauvais") and she returns to Herodotus.

On 23 September 1878 (082.0442) she lists Herodotus among the few Greek authors she knows, with Aristophanes, Plutarch, a little Xenophon and Plato, and Epictetus.

Notes and doubts

• Marie never names the translator. Larcher's version is the most likely for a French reader of the 1870s and carries the exact title "Histoire d'Hérodote", but that is an inference. Other French translations were also current.
• Herodotus had no glossary entry before this one (author or work).

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Histories (Herodotus)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histories_(Herodotus)
• French Wikisource, "Histoires (Hérodote)" and "Histoire (Hérodote)/Trad. Larcher, 1850".