New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-08-19
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE GREAT HISTORIAN.

rHuCYDTDEs. Translated irto English. with Intro.
b. JowrrT, ii A. In two volumes voiu,ae 1 con
tanning the Text; Volume II continuing the Notes
Oxford. At the Clarendon Press. 1881
ThucSddes continues in tho Judgment of all COM
petent critics to rank the finest of historians. lie
was the favorite of Lord Macaulay. who studied his
methods and pecularties to good purpose. Tue
history Of the Peoponnesian war Is remarKanlc
not only for its vcracity and vigor OF narration,
but also for that picturesque attention 10 MINOR
details which many distinguished writer's in the
same department of letters have thought beneath
their dignity. Wat we know of his life completes
The interest which tho writings OF lhucydldes
inspire Born in Athens All j. c. of a noble and
opulent family, in his fifteenth year he heard
IIerodotus read his history to great crowd of
Grecians assembled at the Olympic games and
after listening with fixed attention burst INTO tears
AS a citizen of Athens he early became soldier and
prepared himself for the place of command which
he afterward occupied. He writes of the quarrel
between the Corcyreans and Corinthians and of the
defensive measures adopted by the Athenians as if
he were personally cognizant of these transactions,
as doubtless lie was. He resolved to record the
History of the Pelopounesian War before 1t
actually foot, and he himself tells us that he
began to write when the Athenans first took up
arms. lie marched with Pericles; he assisted at
the public funeral solemnized for the first victims
of the and listened to the Grafton of Perices
in honor of the dead and the living. For SIX years
he engaged at once in writing and i'll fighting
His services were brilliant Us a commander of the
Athenian ieet but the intrigues of Cleon the dema
gogue, alienated from him the affections Of the
people, and he was recalled. He bore this adversely
with great dignity and suffered banlshmcnt to
Thrace with eGuanmity for twenty years, during
which he constantly engaged in correcting and
Improving his history He died in exile, leaving as
his monument work which has charmed and in
structed so many generations of readers
AS narrator Thucydides Is admitted to be
without equal. lie dlsdans superhuous orna-
ment. but retalus settled gravity and simplicity
which secure tho confidence and respect of the
reader lie was as Cicero says " an explaner of
facts with prudence and severity" lie was praised
by Longinus for grandeur and eXaltation in
writing history. Plutarch eulogzes his pathos, his
energy and his variety. No writer described
battles better-few writer's have described them so
we'll. lie Is thought by some to have been lacking
in grace and harmony. but.ho is always noble and
always honest, especial instance of the latter
quality being found III his report of the conference
between the Athenians and the Meians which
the former avow principles little to their credit.
One of the most celebrated chapters of Thucydides
is that IN which he describes the plague which
afflicted Athens durine the second year of the war.
He begins by giving the symptoms and character
istics of the disease with almost the accuracy of
scientific physician. lie has theories--he offers
only facts. and from these we are now able to de-
ducc with comparative certainty that this plague
was an eruptive typhoid fever. Mr.. Jowett calls 1t
"typhus fever with the more malignant forms of
measles and smallpox" The IMPLICITLY of Thucy-
dides in painting the wretcheduess of the doomed
city surpasses in effect all elaborate effort lie tells
us of the thirst the seepessness the restessness
and the exhaustion which carried OIL tue sufferer.
Though so many bodies were lying unburied, birds
and animals which feed on human flesh refused to
come near them or died if they touched them. No
single remedy proved specific; that which did
good to did harm to another. Those who
sickened fell at once into appalling dependency
Sufferers died in solitude. for none would nurse
them. The people crowded out of the country
into the city, and this aggravated the.msery. The
temples full of the corpses of those who died in
them. Lawlessness prevailed. No fear of God or
law Of man deferred criminal. "The pleasure of
the moment and any sort of thing which conduced
to 1T took the place. says Thucydides, of honor
and expediency."
The first volume of this edition contains the
History. while the second devoted to pathological
and other notes. The work is elegantly printed
and somewhat expensive We should think that a
cheaper edition of the History by itself would be
welcome to those who not specially classical
scholars.