New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-25
FREEMAN'S SICILY.
THE BEGINNINGS OF AN IMMENSE WORK
THE HISTORY OF SICILY FROM THE EARLIEST I5SS


projected must be of the first importance and in
terest and the scale adopted and shown in the
two portly volumes which usher in the undertaking
is of a magnitude TO some twinges of doubt
in the minds Of those who remember how short
and precarious is human life. The history OF
Sicily indeed cannot be told with any approach
to fulness in little space for there is no other
country whose annals are interviewer with those
of other nations which occupies so steadily ana
long pivotal position. Nor is there any other
country the historian Of which is so bound to the
constant treatment Of external affairs; for SICILY
has ever been meeting and fighting ground OF
the nations Of Europe and Asia, and the scene OF
ever-shifting conquests from without, wmie
throughout the ages no Scilian nation or race has
become established. Beginning with the first oceu-
pants OF the island known TO tradition-the Slkahs
and Sikels. df indeed they were two peoples and
not one) Phoenicans. Greeks, Romans SaraceDs,
- Normans, Lombards, colonized and fought over
the land. AS Mr. Freeman writes: Being what
il was and where it was Sicily was destined. as
by an irresistible fate, to supply dweing-place
and fghting-pace for the chief powers of the
Mediterranean world. above all for those who, in
any age, were strong in the neighboring land OF
Italy. Sicily too great TO be in the possession of
single king or city, or even league. was nos
merely to be- like the Cretan island and the Pelo-
. popnesSlan peninsula. the possession OF many
and striven for among d;sputants bound as it were
10 enmity and rivalry every ground This lot,
indeed is not peculiar to Sicily: it is shared with
IL by two others of the Mediterranean lands, by
lesser island to the east and by greater penin-
sula to the west. Cyprus and Spain have both.
no less than Sicily been the meeting-piaces ana
the battle-felds of nations. There has therefore
never at any time been Cypriot Sician ma
tionslity at united and distinct. Spain, in
the geographical sense, still contains two kingdoms;
one might say that it still contains more than
two nations In the case of Sicily above all, the
meeting place of the nations, the battlefield of
the nations could never become the home and
cradle of any one nation. All the races of Europe
and Of some lands beyond Europe have played
their part in the history of Sicily. For the very
reason that Sicily has found -dwelling-places for
so many nations, Sican nation there has never
been"
In engaging himself to write the history of the
island I" from the earliest times" Mr. Freeman
has been necessarily committed to a great deal
of preliminary work of an equally arduous and
uncertain character At the very outset, the
problem of the so-called aboriginal races had
to be confronted. and while the veteran
historian has attacked this intricate question
with characteristic energy and thOroughness of
method, it in the very nature
Of the case impossible that he should settle
it, Were the Skans and the Sikels two distinct
peoples? Were they separate branches of the
same stock? Or do the two names stand for
one and the same people? Each of these ques-
tons is of Importance, but since there are no
really trustworthy authorities to lean upon, since
tradition plays far greater part than history in
the ancient records. and since it is quite impos
siblc that any new light can he thrown upon the
matter-it is clear that discussion and disputa-
ton, no matter how acutely conducted, cannot
bring us TO anything more definite than COM
parison of probabilities. Mr., Freeman himself
has become convinced--as much as is permissible
in such case-that the Sikans and Skels were
distinct peoples that the former of lerian
and the latter of Latin origin. The fact that
the Sikels called themselves autochthones he
sders Of moment, though it might he thought
that tradition here not less entitled TO con-
sderation than in many other cases where the
historian allows much weight TO It, AS regards
the Sikans, almost nothing is known; and not
much more can be said of the Skels. It can only
be said that these people were contempOraneOus
with Phoenicians and Greeks of whom do know
something; and that the PhOenicianS and Greeks
found them in Sicily when they landed there
Tradition further reports that the Sikels came
over the Straits in the form Of great migration.
Some said that there two of these migra-
tons The Sikean hOTdeS did such hordeS
always did in those days. They overwhelmed
the Skanians by force of numbers and, having
slaughtered perhaps the greater portion of them,
expelled the survivors from the places most
eligible for settlement and drove them into the
interior. In dealing with the largely mythical
accounts of these times Mr.. Freemans habitual
caution and careful dcliberaton are put under
great strain. Hardly anything be alleged
specifically which has not TO be analyZed with
the most rigid scrupulousness to ascertain whether
it should be received history dismissed as
myth. or possibly re-examined as a compound of
both Now while it is perfectly apparent that all
this is a labor of love with the historian, these
long and minute inqusitions ending most of
them do in Scotch verdict of not proven, are
apt TO perpex and even weary the general reader
who is not sustained by the enthusiasm of the
scholar 1t is true that here and there some
little tussock of demonstrable fact is discovered
on the surface Of the great bog of myth and ira
dition; but these little tussoclSs too far apart
20 serve as stepping stones, and it is quite i'm
possible by means Of them 20 carry the narrative
forward or TO obtain clear insight into the general
course of events. Moreover, when reflects
upon the space devoted 10 these inquiries and
then glances at the extent Of the field TO be
covered. il becomes difficult so much as to con-
lecture the number Of volumes which will he
reouired 10 bring the history Of Sicily down to the
point announced by the author for his con-
eIusion.
In these ryo Volumes containing upward of
twelve hundred octave pages, the history is only
brought down to five centuries before our era. At
their close the historian is still dealing with the
wars between the Phoenican and Greek colonies
The most important and farreachins event yet
corded is the battle of IIimera. Half the ancient
and all the modern history of the island remains
TO be told. Clearly no indications are afforded
by the length of the History Of the Norman
Conquest" for here the Norman conquest consd-
tutes but a single phase in chronicle which