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

IV

THUCYDIDES

109

the speeches are to be taken and what they represent. In some cases he heard speeches delivered,
but it was impossible for him to remember them
accurately; and in other cases he had to depend on
the oral reports of others. His general rule was
to take the general drift and intention of the
speaker, and from this text compose what he might
probably have said. It is clear that this principle
gave great latitude to the author, and that the
resemblances of the Thucydidean speeches to those
actually spoken must have varied widely according
to his information. They are all distinctly Thucydidean in style, just as the various characters in a
play of Euripides all use similar diction. Homogeneity in style was a canon of most ancient men
of letters; they shrank from introducing lengthy
quotations or inserting the ipsissima verba of documents. Occasionally Thucydides has probably
indicated personal mannerisms. For instance, in a
speech of Alcibiades there are one or two expressions
which are intended to suggest his characteristically
"forcible" style.' But this has been done with
great reserve. Thucydides in his portraiture does
not depend on mannerisms. The speeches of
Pericles produce the effect of the lofty earnestness
of a patriotic statesman who is somewhat of an
idealist; the speech of Cleon is that of a bullying
pedagogue. But the diction is the same. So in
Aeschylus, the nurse maunders, though she speaks

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