Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/37

 READINGS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW It is clear that all our information in regard to past Primary events and conditions must be derived from evidence of historical some kind. This evidence is called the source. Some- sources, times there are a number of good and reliable sources for an event, as, for example, for the decapitation of Charles I, or for the march of Napoleon into Russia. Sometimes there is but a single, unreliable source, as, for instance, in the case of the burial of Alaric in a river bed. 1 For a great many important matters about which we should like to know there are, unfortunately, no written sources at all, and we can only guess how things were. For example, we do not know what the Germans were doing before Caesar came into contact with them and took the trouble to give a brief account of them. We can learn but little about the bishops of Rome before the time of Constantine, for few references to them have come down to us. Few, however, of those who read and study history Secondary ever come in contact with the primary, or first-hand s 1 See below, p. 43. I