Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/13



"Stories of the Nations" could not be complete without that of Greece. This is one excuse for adding to the number of short Greek Histories. Another is that it was a necessary preface to a second volume designed to sketch the fortunes of Greece after its period of greatness, the interest of which could hardly be intelligible without some account of the life and genius of its people when at their best. I have tried throughout to lay stress upon the political, intellectual, and artistic achievements of the Greeks, rather than on the history of military operations. The latter of course could not be ignored or neglected, but they have not been made the chief feature in the book. My plan was to notice the literary movement in each period as it arose; it was thought better however that a chapter containing a more continuous account of extant Greek literature should be added. It therefore necessarily contains some repetition of what had been said in previous chapters. The amount however of such