A History of Greece, 4; From the Earliest Period to the Close of the Generation Contemporany with Alexander the Great (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1862 Excerpt: ...have already been described in a former 'JTM chapter, on occasion of the conquest of Samos. But that tbe, ear1 Thucyd. ii. 29. 3 Thucyd. ii. 33. which imparted to the present scene an imperishable interest, was the discourse of the chosen statesman and orator; probably heard by Thucydides himself, and in substance reproduced. A large crowd of citizens and foreigners, of both sexes and all ages, accompanied the funeral procession from Athens to the suburb called the outer Kerameikus, where Perikles, mounted upon a lofty stage prepared for the occasion, closed the ceremony with his address. The law of Athens not only provided this public funeral and commemorative discourse, but also assigned maintenance at the public expense to the children of the slain warriors until they attained military age: a practice which was acted-on throughout the whole war, though we have only the description and discourse belonging to this single occasion.1 The eleven chapters of Thucydides which comprise this funeral Funeral m-speech are among the most memorable relics of anti tion of Perl-r... was. quity; considering that under the language and arrangement of the historian--always impressive, though sometimes harsh and peculiar, like the workmanship of a powerful mind misled by a bad or an unattainable model--we possess the substance and thoughts of the illustrious statesman: A portion of it, of course, is and must be commonplace, belonging to all discourses composed for a similar occasion. Yet this is true only of a comparatively small portion.-Much of it is peculiar, and every way worthy of Perikles--comprehensive, rational, and full not less of sense and substance than of earnest patriotism. It thus forms a strong contrast with the jejune, though elegant, rhetoric of other hara...