Book II - Wilbourhall.org

xlvi INTRODUCTION. [ii.prose style which should be as far as possible independentof poetical elements.But some eminent scholars consider that the influenceof poetry on artistic Attic prose is so greatthat it is more probable that the prose authors often,though not necessarily always, used inflexionswhichwere never used in speaking. These forms wereborrowed from a literary dialect which had grown upThein very early times among the Ionic epic poets.balance of probability being in favour of Attic asagainst epic or literary forms, the old Attic inflexionshave been restored in this edition.The confusion inthe spelling of the MSS. is mainly due to the substitutionof late forms forunderstood.those which were no longer