Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Dublin; Knight (Gold Cross) of the Order of the Redeemer; Hon. Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford; Author of 'Prolegomena to Ancient History,' 'Social Life in Greece,' 'A History of Classical Greek Literature,' &c., &c.   [ All rights reserved ]...

Even since the following sheets were printed, the researches into prehistoric Greek life, and its relation both to the East, to the Homeric poems, and to the Greece we know in the 7th century B.C. , have progressed, and we are beginning to see some light through the mist. I can refer the reader to two books, of which one has just been published in English. The other, the second edition of Busolt's History of Greece , though still in the press, will be accessible to those that read German in a fe

Our Earlier Historians of Greece. § 1. There are scientific problems and literary tasks which can be worked out once for all, or which, at least, admit of final solution, to the lasting fame of him that finds that solution, as well as to the permanent benefit of civilized man. There are others, more numerous and far more interesting, which are ever being solved, finally perhaps in the opinion of the discoverer, and even of his generation, but ever arising again, and offering fresh difficulties a

Recent Treatment of the Greek Myths. § 14. We may now pass to the more modern treatment of the myths and mythical history of Greece. There are before us the essays of several men since the monumental work of Grote. First there is that of Ernst Curtius; then Duncker's (both translated into English); still more recently the shorter histories of Holm, Busolt, Hertzberg, and other Germans, not to speak of Sir George Cox's history and the first volume of that of Mr. Evelyn Abbott. In fact they are so

Theoretical Chronology. § 27. We may now pass from so-called legend to so-called early history. All students, from Thucydides downward, have held that shortly after the state of things described in Homer, important invasions and consequent dislocations of population began throughout Greece, so that what meets us in the dawn of sober history differs widely from what Homer describes. These various movements have their mythical name,—the return of the Heracleidæ; and their quasi-historical,—the inv

The Despots; The Democracies. § 34. At last we emerge into the open light of day, and find ourselves in the seventh century (more strictly 650-550 B.C. ), in that brilliant, turbulent, enterprising society which produced the splendid lyric poetry of Alcæus and Sappho, of Alcman and Terpander, and carried Greek commerce over most of the Mediterranean [77:1] . We have still but scanty facts to guide us; yet they are enough to show us the general condition of the country,—aristocratical governments

The Great Historians. § 39. I now pass on to the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, and their treatment by ancient and modern critics. It is our peculiar good fortune to have these two wars narrated respectively by the two greatest historians that Greece produced,—Herodotus and Thucydides. Unfortunately, perhaps, after the manner of most historians, they have made wars their chief subject; but this criticism applies less to Herodotus, who in leading up to his great climax has given us so many delig

Political Theories and Experiments in the Fourth Century b.c. § 46. What may most properly make the modern historian pause and revise his judgment of the Athenian democracy, is the evident dislike which the most thoughtful classes, represented by these great historians, and by the professed pupils of Socrates, displayed to this form of society [110:1] . We are now so accustomed to histories written by modern Radicals, or by men who do not think out their politics, that we may perhaps be put off

Practical Politics in the Fourth Century. § 54. Let us now pass on to the practical politicians of the day, or to those who professed to be practical politicians, and see what they had to propose in the way of improving the internal condition of Greek society, as well as of saving it from those external dangers which every sensible man must have apprehended, even before they showed themselves above the political horizon. [150:1] Finlay even goes so far as to say that the islanders of Hydra, who

Alexander the Great. § 63. As I have said already, the death of Demosthenes is the favourite terminus for the political historians of Greece. But let us not grow weary,—let us survey the fortunes of the race for some centuries more, touching upon those turning-points or knotty points where it seems that the evidence has not been duly stated or weighed. In approaching the work and the character of Alexander, we come upon a new authority among modern historians, whom we have not yet encountered. D

Post-Alexandrian Greece. § 69. The period which follows the death of Alexander is one so complicated with wars and alliances, with combinations and defections, with reshapings of the world's kingdoms [168:1] , with abortive efforts at a new settlement, that it deters most men from its study, and has certainly acted as a damper upon the student who is not satisfied with the earlier history, but strives to penetrate to the closing centuries of freedom in Greece. There is very little information up

The Romans in Greece. § 79. The interference of the Romans in Greek affairs reopened many of the constitutional questions upon which I have touched; for in their conflicts with Macedon they took care to win the Greeks to their side by open declarations in favour of independence, and by supporting the Leagues, which afforded the only organization that could supply them with useful auxiliaries. When the Romans had conquered came the famous declaration that all the cities which had been directly su

On the Authenticity of the Olympian Register [217:1] . There seems a sort of general agreement among modern historians of Greece to accept the 1st Olympiad (776 B.C. ) as the trustworthy starting-point of solid Greek chronology. Even Grote, so sceptical about legends, and so slow to gather inferences from them, accepts this date. There is only one exception, I think, to be found in Sir George Cox, who evidently rejects the Olympian register, who will not set down in his chronology any figure hig