THUCYDIDES.
 

BOOK    I.

Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the I. i.
war in which the Peloponnesians and the Athenians
fought against one another. He began to write when
they first took up arms, believing that it would be great
and memorable above any previous war. For he argued Greatness
that both states were then at the full height of their war.
military power, and he saw the rest of the Hellenes
either siding or intending to side with one or other
of them. No movement ever stirred Hellas more
deeply than this; it was shared by many of the Bar¬
barians, and might be said even to affect the world at
large. The character of the events which preceded,
whether immediately or in more remote antiquity,
owing to the lapse of time cannot be made out with
certainty, a But, judging from the evidence which I
am able to trust after most careful enquiry % I should
imagine that former ages were not great either in their
wars or in anything else.

The country which   is  now  called   Hellas was  not      2.
regularly settled ^in ancient times b.    The people were ^.^[^^ ^°""

Hellas :
a Or, connecting au with  fxaKporarov:  ' But  after carrying the

enquiry to the  furthest point at which any trustworthy evidence

can be obtained.'

t> Or, taking ov rraXai closely together: ' until recent times.*