Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/34

XXX THUCYDIDES C. I. A. 381: — Yi.pifi.jxkv KaXAtTc'XTys iS/3i'craT[o' TovSe S' tKCtvov €]y[y]ovoi i(TTrj(jav' , ois X^P^^ dvTtSiSovJ. (Anthol. Pal. 6. 138.) C. I. A. 403 :— [TovSe IIdp^s] dvi6r]K€ IToXv/xv^o-Tov ^A.o[s vtosj ev^d/xevo'i BeKarrfv TlaWdSi, T/DiToyevei. KnScovieVas (laras or lar^^s ?) Kpy^acXa? ipydcraaTO. These last words are corrupted by the MSS. of the Antho- logy (Anthol. Pal. 13. 13) into — KvBwviaL Tas KpiaLa's ilpydcraro. The authority of Greek inscriptions is only impaired by the chance of their being more recent than the events to which they relate. When the human mind was seeking too late to recover the past, it was natural that the names of kings or magistrates should be arranged in chrono- logical order and inscribed on monuments. But such lists are justly suspected when they extend beyond the ordinary limits of Greek history. Who will guarantee the cata- logues of Olympian victors or Spartan kings whose names and dates alone are recorded, while of their actions we are ignorant ? At any rate we cannot be certain of their genuineness, for they mount up to a time which is un- known to us, and we have no records by which we can test them. A few ancient inscriptions, like that which recorded the 'treaty of Cimon' with the Great King and was suspected by Theopompus (Fragm. 167, 168) on account of the Ionic letters, may have been forgeries or perhaps restorations of older inscriptions in accordance with a later tradition. Some, like the Sigean inscription, in the opinion of Boeckh, though maintained by Kirchhoff and others to be genuine, may have been imitations of the archaic. Others again, like the Parian marble, without being forgeries may be regarded as literary works of a later age, having no more pretension