In this work's Second Dialogue, it states that the true end of history is to "teach men how to live" and "render them prudent."  
In this work's Second Dialogue, it states that the true end of history is to "teach men how to live" and "render them prudent."  One famous section includes a description of the burial of St. Francis and a discourse on the meaning of a pun on the word, "tondo."  In other sections we find the story of how Pinturicchio was unaware of the 500 gold ducats hidden in his room and we also learn that Carpaccio didn't invent raw hamburger but that he was responsible for Petrarch in His Study.  Though dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, it was at 1546 Rome gathering that the idea for it was initiated by Cardinal Farnese.  FTP, name this work in which we first find the term "Renaissance", written by Giorgio Vasari.
In this work's Second Dialogue, it states that the true end of history is to "teach men how to live" and "render them prudent."  
Lives of the Artists or Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects or Vite de' pi? eccellenti architetti, pittori e scultori italiani  [accept close English equivalents as it's been translated a bunch of times under slightly different titles.