Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/106

 Cll THUCYDIDES age ? They bring nearer home to us Greek political institutions, the great struggle for freedom, the writings of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon. They realize to us the innumerable details of private life about which history is silent ; they illustrate forcibly some of the characteristics of Athenian public life, such as the imperative nature of duty to the state, the universal responsibility and liability to audit of treasurers and other officers, the great number of citizens annually chosen by lot to take part in the administration of the city (Thuc. ii. 40 init.). They add to our previous knowledge a few facts. They make an important contribution to the history of the Greek alpha- bet. And the investigation of them, especially on the spot, is full of interest independently of the result. To be busy on Greek soil, under the light of the blue heaven, amid the scenes of ancient glory, in reading inscriptions, or putting together fragments of stone or marble, has a charm of another kind than that which is to be found in the language of ancient authors. Yet even to appreciate truly the value of such remains, it is to the higher study of the mind of Hellas and of her great men that we must return, finding some little pleasure by the way (like that of looking at an autograph) in deciphering the handwriting of her children amid the dust of her ruins.