GREEKS AND BARBARIANS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE GREEK TRADITION
La. Cr. 8vo. 6/- net. Extracts from the Reviews.
“The book will be read with profit and with a hearty interestby any one who wishes to understand the life of ancient Greece.”—Scotsman.
“Mr. Thomson is a classicist who can form his own theoriesand support them.”—Times.
“He is such a guide as makes literature a live thing.”—SundayTimes.
“These delightful essays.”—Morning Post.
“The essays themselves are fresh and stimulating ... it isa fascinating experiment in reconstruction.... It is Mr. Thomson’sliterary method which attracts us ... essentially sound.”—Inquirer.
“Well worth reading.”—New Age.
“Noteworthy, not only for the author’s intimate knowledgeof Greek literature and art, but also for a range of vision andbreadth of knowledge. The book as a whole is scholarly delicatework, illuminated by imaginative power as well as real insightinto Greek thought and ideals.”—Land and Water.
“Mr. Thomson is indisputably a valuable aid to classic studies,and those who have read him cannot fail to re-peruse their Hesiod,their Thucydides and the ‘Alcestis’ of Euripides in a new andfuller light.”—Journal of Education.
“Here is scholarship with a bright and eager face. Mr. Thomson’sessays have the flavour of good literature. They have caughtsomething of the light of the ancient world of masterpieces withwhich they are concerned.”—Daily News.
“He has written with great charm.... Mr. Thomson bringsan active but controlled imagination, a ripe scholarship, a shrewdjudgment, a pleasing literary style and a sympathetic insight.It is impossible to convey the charm of these papers, each is alittle work of art which must be read as a whole.”—Outlook.
“His work is most thought-provoking and valuable ... everyone interested in classical literature should read it.”—Schoolmaster.
GREEKS & BARBARIANS
BY
J. A. K. THOMSON
LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
First Published in 1921
(All rights reserved)
To
MY MOTHER
PREFACE
There have been many explanations of ancientGreece and its peculiar spirit. If I may say so,the only original thing about the explanation offeredin this book is its want of originality; for it is theexplanation of the Greeks themselves. They believedthat Hellenism was born of the conflict between