Author Description

Excerpt from Lectures on Ancient History, Vol. 2 of 3: From the Earliest Times to the Taking of Alexandria by Octavianus; Comprising the History of the Asiatic Nations, the Egyptians, Greeks, Macedonians and Carthaginians The Peloponnesian war, which in some respects resembles that against Hannibal, is the most immortal of all wars, be cause it is described by the greatest of all historians that ever lived. Thucydides has reached the highest attainable point in historiography, both in regard to the positive historical cer tainty, and to the animated style of his work. In the latter point, Tacitus might perhaps be compared with him, if we pos sessed the lost books of his Historize; for in those which have come down'to us, he did not yet take an active part in public matters, as Thucydides did in the time which he describes. Tacitus, however, is not so unrestrained nor so graphic. Thu cydides is, as it were, present everywhere, and sees what he relates. In this respect he is unique it is possible that Livy, in his last books, was similarly graphic, though in quite a diffe rent way. Sallust has it in his speeches, and may have had it also elsewhere in his lost books. The charge which was for merly brought against Thucydides is of the most absurd kind; in him and in Demosthenes every word has its full weight. 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; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.