His own conception of history, as the attempt to delineate the very spirit of a nation, is highly philosophical.
[3] The high sense of the requirements of scientific history attained by the Italians is shown by what Giovio relates of Gian Galeazzo's archives (_Vita di Gio.

Galeazzo_, p.

107).

After describing these, he adds: 'talche, chi volesse scrivere un' historia giusta non potrebbe desiderare altronde ne piu abbondante ne piu certa materia; perciocche da questi libri facilissimamente si traggono le cagioni delle guerre, i consigli, e i successi dell' imprese.' The Proemio to Varchi's _Storie Fiorentine_ (vol.i.

pp.
42-44), which gives an account of his preparatory labors, is an unconscious treatise on the model historian.