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

II

HERODOTUS

65

as the Herodotean narrative must have failed to
please the Ionians. Herodotus expressly argued
that the Athenians were "truly the saviours of
Greece "; but he did more: he gave currency and
authority to a story which embodied Athenian
tradition and justified Athenian empire, and with
such cunning and tact that it has been permanently
effective. His admiration for Athens was bound
up with his belief in democratic freedom. Until
the Peisistratids were overthrown, he says, Athens
was an ordinary undistinguished city; but when
the Athenians abolished the tyranny and won their
freedom, they became by far the first state in
Greece.2
Herodotus then was a phil-Athenian democrat.
If the story is true that the Athenians bestowed
on him ten talents (about 12,000 dollars) in recognition of the merits of his work, it was a small
remuneration for the service he rendered to the
renown of their city.3 But that he did this service
does not degrade his work into anything that
could be described as a partisan publication in the
offensive sense. It was pragmatical; it reflected
the author's political beliefs, and exhibited a strong
bias in the preference given to Athenian sources.
But it was the work of a historian who cannot help
being partial; it was not the work of a partisan
who becomes a historian for the sake of his cause.
1 vii. 139. 2 1.aKpW prp 7roL, v. 78.
3 Plutarch, Hepi r7js 'Hpo86Tro KaKolOelias, 26. There is nothing incredible in the story that he recited part of his work at Athens c. 445 B.C.
His work then consisted of the last three Books.
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