History of the Western World

An ancient Eastern tale tells of a young king who was suddenly seized by an urgent desire to learn about the past. He sent for his scholars and commanded them to write down the entire history of the past. Several years later, he recalled his command and sent for the scholars, asking them about their progress. They informed him, delightedly, that they had recently completed it in sixty volumes. He thanked them for their efforts, pointed to his graying hair, and asked them to condense it into three volumes; this took them another ten years. The king had neither the time nor the strength to read them, so he ordered them to condense it all into one volume. They threw themselves into this work with incredible effort and brought the book, in good time, to the royal presence. But by then, the king had become a frail old man, and his sight was failing. He said to the chief scholar, "Tell me – you who have spent your entire life in this arduous work – summarize for me in one sentence everything you have learned from the past." The old scholar's answer to the old king was, "May you live forever, O King, I beg your mercy, for this is not within my power." However, the king insisted. The scholar, his back bent by the years, said, "I have learned that many generations of people were born, grew up, loved, suffered, and died." Here, the king became angry, and he was right to be so, as he could have said that without effort. He handed the scholar over to the chief executioner, then lamented the shortness of human life and the length of history.