Motivated by the fact that the classical spirit of "Historia" is now being reconsidered through the crisis of "Historismus", this paper is an attempt to find the true meaning of 'Historein" (To search, to narrate, etc) in Herodotus The Greek word "Opsis" is known to signify both an act of seeing and a thing seen But of particular interest is the way in which Herodotus uses this term readers of Herodotus will find the phrase "Opsis oneirou" (Vision in a dream) very often, especially in Books I and VII In Book I dreams are about the destinies of kings in connection with the Persian dynasty in one way or another, and the dream in Book VII is of Xerxes on the eve of his Greek expedition The present author believes that he can observe a certain difference in the aspect of "Opsis oneirou' between these two books, and that this difference, naturally enough, is a reflection of the fact that Herodotus' "Histories" consist of two components an element of geography and tale or legend on the one hand and that of history on the other The most important dream in Book I is that concerning the birth of Cyrus In spite of the Magi's soothsaying, Cyrus usurped the throne and thus the vision in the dream came to be realized But, to Herodotus, the dream was not truly lealized until Cyrus met his violent death, which annihilated all his efforts, his ambitions, his glory, his concerns, his foolishness But readers must see there the "Opsis oneirou" of Herodotus himself Through this "Cyclos" of fate Herodotus suggests a grand cyclic construction of dynastic history, an which the beginning and the end correspond to each other In Book VII Xerxes hesitates and vacillates on account of the menacingdream it reflects the mechanism of an empire where the nobility was incessantly trying to impose restraints on royal prerogative Xerxes is represented there not as an emperor who firmly carries out his resolution, but as a mortal threatened by "Daimon's voice" within himself He is carried aside from the destined course of "Acta dei" of dynastic history and involved in "Acta hominis" of the Persian War This is what we ought to see in the King's "Opsis oneirou" "Opsis oneirou", indeed, embodies causality which lies hidden behind the phenomenal world It reveals the depth and the width of "Historia" If historians, unsatisfied with mere manipulation of evidences, want to have an insight into history through their own eyes, the way they ought to follow is unmistakably shown here
