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Untitled Article
ever be admired , who shed tews when he heard Herodotus recite his history of the Persian wars at the Olympic g&rties . To this induction , the points df which we have rapidly noted , Mr , Taylor subjorns with propriety and spirit , * ' If , therefore , the history had been forged in any age subsequent to that of Herodotus , the forger must hare had under his controul , for the purpose
of interpolation , not only a copy of every considerable work extant in Ms time , but every copy of such work ; he must , in fact , have new created the entire mass of books existing in the eastern and western world at the time , and must have destroyed all but his own interpolated copies ; otherwise some copies of some of those works would have reached us in which these interpolated quotations from Herodotus would have been wanting . Such suppositions are manifestly extravagant . "
Several hypothetical statements of this kind are next examined and amply refuted . The preceding argument has been drawn from one species of evidence—the testimony of contemporary and succeeding writers : but there is a possible augmentation of it , that arising from independent versions , which * ' does not belong to the Greek historian , but is possessed in fuU by the Jewish and Christian Seriplwres " VI . This ^ fbapt er treats of " the Argument from the Genuineness of the History of Herodotus to the Authenticity . " Our readers may form some judgment of its nature from the following sentences :
' * Within so short a period as five-and-thirty or forty years , it could not be a matter of doubt or controversy to the Athenians , or indeed to any of the people of Greece , whether Athens had been occupied by a foreign army , its halls and temples overthrown or burned , its sacred groves cut down , and its surrounding gardens and fields devastated . "—But " a history is in that very country publicly recited and universally applauded- in which this invasion of Attica and this destruction of Athens are particularly described . "— " The boldness of Herodotus in publishing many of his statements , and the candour of the Greeks in admitting them , are both worthy of admiration . "— -P , 66 .
VII . This chapter treats of " Contemporary Testimonies in Proof of the Facts related by Herodotus : " Pmdar , the prince of the lyric poets , and JEstihylus , the father of tragedy axnon * the X * reeks , make the facts which the history of Herodotus records , the evident basis of their poetry . * ' Thucyflidesh&H conversed with many of those who Lad taken part in the battles described b y Herodotus . Many allusions to the events of the Persian invasion occur in the course of this work , and they are all of that kind which is natural when an historian refers to facts which he supposes to be fresh in the recollection of his readers . " - —P . 72 .
The orators Lysias and Isovrates refer to the same events . CtesiaSj though his object was unfavourable to the credit of Herodotus , confirms the main narration . The truth of the history then rests upon the fact , that it was published and accepted while the individuals to whom the events were known were still living . VIII . ** Examples of Imperfect Historical Evidence . "
"It is the manner of Herodotus to prelate unimportant circumstances which took place , if at all , 300 or 1000 years before his time , with as much minutoness of detail , and as much confidence , as when he Is describing recent events . Frequently , it may be supposed , he followed what he deemed authentic documenta ; but as we have no means of forming an opinion ? n the subject , such
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Review *— Tapfof * Hutorkai ' &rtijf . 31 °
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 319, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/31/
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