SOURCE: "The Story and the Book," in Herodotus, University of California Press, 1924, pp. 37-75.

In the following essay, Glover provides an overview of the History, discussing the development of Herodotus 's methods, his goals as an historian, and his use of written and oral sources.

I

It is not often we are in a position to know how the impulse came to a great artist to produce what has proved to be his masterpiece. Probably, as a rule it comes after long preparation, which has been less conscious than instinctive. The subject drew him; he thought much upon it; then one day he saw it in a new way, and wondered, and then perhaps suddenly realized how intensely it suited him, how much of his work was done already; he would finish it. But in working it out, he found he had only begun his work, and it...