THUCYDIDES, an Athenian, wrote the history of the
war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, be-
ginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing
that it would be a great war, and more worthy of rela-
tion than any that had preceded it. This belief was
not without its grounds. The preparations of both the
combatants were in every department in the last state of
perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic
race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing
so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed this was
the greatest movement yet known in history, not only
of the Hellenes, but of a large part of the barbarian
world--I had almost said of mankind. For though the
events of remote antiquity, and even those that more
immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of
time be clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an
inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me
to trust, all point to the conclusion that there was noth-
ing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters.

For instance, it is evident that the country now called
Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on
the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence,
the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under
the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce,
without freedom of communication either by land or sea,

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