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Excerpt from Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts From the Sources; I. Greece and the East This book aims to set before students beginning the study of Ancient History a sufficient amount of source material to illustrate the important facts mentioned in every good textbook. There is also a clear intent to give the reader some taste of the notable literary flavor pervading the histories of Greece and Rome. It is a distinct loss of an opportunity to pass from the study (e.g.) of the Persian Wars and to gain no first-hand acquaintance with Herodotus; or, again, of the Roman Emperors and to read no typical passages of Tacitus. This compilation has been prepared for constant use along with some standard text-book, and various matters of marked historical importance, as the Servian Constitution of Rome, have been deliberately omitted, because most school histories state the fact sufficiently well, and little is added by reproducing the arid statements in Livy. On the other hand, many tales have been included, like the story of The Ring of Polycrates or of Cincinnatus called from the Plow, which condensed histories may well slight but which afford refreshing illustrations of the ancient life or the ancient viewpoint. Comparing the compass of this work with the wide extent of available literature, it is evident that a very large number of desirable passages have been perforce omitted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully