Anna Comnena
"Time in its irresistible and ceaseless flow carries along on its flood all created things and drowns them in the depths of obscurity… But the tale of history forms a very strong bulwark against the stream of time, and checks in some measure its irresistible flow, so that, of all things done in it, as many as history has taken over it secures and binds together, and does not allow them to slip away into the abyss of oblivion."
This article is hosted at Powells.com:
http://www.powells.com/blog/guests/badass-authors-anna-comnena-by-ben-thompson/