A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1114 THUCYDIDES. TIHUCYDIDES.
we have it, was certainly not finished until after statement in Diogenes implies that the work of
the close of the war. Thucydides might have been lost or forgotten but
A question has been raised as to the authorship for Xenophon's care; and if the statement is true,
of the eighth and last book of Thucydides, which we may conclude that the manuscript of Thucybreaks off in the middle of the twenty-first year of dides in some way came into his possession, and
the war (B. c. 411); and with the remark that, probably the materials which the author had col"when the winter which follows this summer lected for the completion of his history.
shall have ended, the one and twentieth year of The work of Thucydides, from the commencethe war is completed." It differs from all the ment of the second book, is chronologically divided
other books in containing no speeches, a circum- into summers and winters, and each summer and
stance which Dionysius remarked, and it has also winter make a year (ii. 1). His summer combeen supposed to be inferior to the rest as a piece prises the time from the vernal to the autumnal
of composition. Accordingly several ancient critics equinox, and the winter comprises the period from
supposed that the eighth book was not by Thucy- the autumnal to the vernal equinox. The division
dides: some attributed it to his daughter, and into books and chapters was probably made by the
some to Xenophon or Theopompus, because both Alexandrine critics. In the second book he says
of them continued the history. The words with at the beginning of the 47th chapter, " such was
which Xenophon's Hellenica commence (/ETsv the interment during this winter, and after the
8e raTra) may chiefly have led to the supposition winter was over, the first year of the war was
that he was the author, for his work is made to ended." He then goes on to say:-" now in the
appear as a continuation of that of Thucydides: commencement of the summer," which is evidently
but this argument is in itself of little weight; and the beginning of a new year, and of a new
besides, both the style of the eighth book is division, if he made any division in his history.
different from that of Xenophon, and the manner Again, at the end of the eightieth chapter, he
of treating the subject, for the division of the year mentions the end of the second year of the war;
into summers and winters, which Thucydides has and again in the last chapter of the second book he
observed in his first seven books, is continued in mentions the conclusion of the third year of the
the eighth, but is not observed by Xenophon. The war. The third book begins just in the same
rhetorical style of Theopompus, which was the manner, "In the following summer," as the eightycharacteristic of his writing, renders it also im- first chapter of the second book. There is, then,
probable that he was the author of the eighth nothing in the work itself which gives the least
book. It seems the simplest supposition to consider intimation that the division into books was part of
Thucydides himself as the author of this book, the author's design; and in fact, the division into
since he names himself as the author twice (viii. books is made in a very arbitrary and clumsy way.
6, 60). Cratippus, a contemporary of Thucydides, The seventh book ought to end with the sixth
who also collected what Thucydides had omitted, chapter of the eighth book; and the seventh
ascribes this book to Thucydides, remarking at chapter of the eighth book ought to be the first.
the same time that he has introduced no speeches We may conclude from the terms in which Cratipin it. (Dionys. De Thucyd. c. 16, ed. Hudson.) pus alludes to the eighth book (r& Treev'aTta 7Es
Marcellinus and the anonymous author of the life lo-roplas) that the division into books was not
of Thucydides also attribute the last book to him. then made; but it existed in the time of DionyThe statement of Cratippus, that Thucydides sius (De Tizucyd. c. 16, 17, &c.), and when Dioomitted the speeches in the last book because they dorus wrote (xii. 37, xiii. 42).
impeded the narrative and were wearisome to his There was a division of the work also into nine
readers, is probably merely a conjecture. If Thu- books (Diod. xii. 37); and a still later division
cydides, after writing speeches in the first seven into thirteen books. The title of the work, as well
books, discovered that this was a bad historical as the division into books, is also probably the work
method, we must assume that if he had lived long of the critics or grammarians. The titles vary in the
enough, he would have struck the speeches out of MSS., but the simple title 4vyypacpA is that which
the first seven books. But this is very improbable; is most appropriate to the author's own expression,
a man of his character and judgment would hardly Oovcv&i~71s'AOaYa7OS vv&,culpa*e Tmpb 7ro2AeTo'v, &c.
begin his work without a settled plan; and if the (i. 1).
speeches were struck out, the work would certainly The history of the Peloponnesian war opens the
be defective, and would not present that aspect of second book of Thucydides, and the first is intropolitical affairs, and that judgment upon them, ductory to the history. He begins his first book
which undoubtedly it was the design of the author by observing that the Peloponnesian war was the
to present. Some reasons why there should be no most important event in Grecian history, which he
speeches in the eighth book, in accordance with shows by a rapid review of the history of the
the general plan of Thucydides, are alleged by Greeks from the earliest period to the commenceKrUger; and the main reason is that they are not ment of the war (i. 1-21). His remarks on the
wanted. Whatever may be the reason, the only remote periods of Grecian history, such as Hellen
conclusion that a sound critic can come to is, that and his sons, the naval power of Minos, and the
the eighth book is by Thucydides, but that he may war of Troy, do not express any doubt as to the
not have had the opportunity of revising it with historical character of these events; nor was it
the same care as the first seven books. necessary for the author to express his scepticism;
A saying (?,E'yseaL) is preserved by Diogenes he has simply stated the main facts of early
that Xenophon made the work of Thucydides Grecian history in the way in which they were
known (clas &b4av T'yayev), which may be true, as told and generally received. These early events
he wrote the first two books of his IHellenicce, or are utterly unimportant, when we view history, as
the part which now ends with the secoid book, the author viewed the object of his history, as
for the purpose of completing the history. The matter for political instruction (i. 22). He de