The ancient Greek historians (Harvard lectures) by J. B. Bury.

212 ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIANS LECT.

historians, may partly be set down to the influence
of popular philosophy, which tended to promote a
didactic style. We might indeed say that the history
of Polybius contains the material for a handbook
of historical method; and this adds greatly to its
value for us.
Like Thucydides and the ancients in general,
Polybius believed in the eminent significance of the
individual in history. He reiterates the platitude
that one mind is more efficacious than a mass
of men, quoting the saying of Euripides, "One
wise plan prevails over many hands."1 He takes
a deep interest in the characters of the men who
appear on his scene. On the other hand, he sees
that there are potent forces at work besides great
men. A student of the history of Rome, which
had won her supreme position, unsteered by single
men of transcendent powers, could not be blind
to this. Polybius recognises the importance of
national character. He considers the influence of
climate upon it, and finds a key to a nation's character in its institutions and political life. We have
seen the importance which he ascribed to the
mechanism of political constitutions. But he
had no idea of history as a continuous progress,
no eye for what we call historical tendencies, no
notion of the way in which historical changes are
brought about by the innumerable and almost
invisible activities of thousands and thousands of
nameless people. He possessed a knowledge of the
viii. 5. 3; i. 35. 3.