Book II - Wilbourhall.org

I.] PREFATORY. xixbut may attract also those ' that love to read of manythousands slain at once,' there is a tradition whichdates from times not very far removed from thehistorian's own age, that this author ought to beannotated. Some of the readers or hearers for whomhis history was annotated in the Byzantine periodmust have been very desultory persons indeed, ifthey really required all the notes that were suppliedfor them ; but probably the more fatuous of thescholia to Thucydides are the work of critics whowere little less dull of apprehension than the verydull gentry who copied the text The students ofthese days are more acute than many of the critics ofthose times. Accordingly, the present edition leavessomething to the acuteness of the reader. It presumesthathe will have the patience to think out thesolution of the small diflBculties for himself;in order to find the explanation of theand that,great ones, hewill take the trouble to turn to the end of the book.Both these demands are made of thereader with thesame purpose. Indeed, I have had but one purposebefore me in making this book ; namely, to encourageand entice those who use it to think forthemselves. The notes attempt to suggest lines ofthought, and especially to desultory readers, who, ifthey will follow the lines suggested to them, willdoubtless frequently arrive at conclusions quite atvariance with those which they will see stated in thebook. They will then have the pleasure of reflectingthat the editor is probably wrong : only they will oftheir charity refrain from carrying their reflectionsso far as to arrive at the conclusion that an editor