392 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE to the destruction of Carthage and the final loss of Greek independence. As a philosophic historian, a student of causes and principles, of natural and geo- graphical conditions, of customs and prices, above all of political constitutions, he is not equalled even by Thucydides. He combines the care and broadness of view of a philosophic modern writer with the practical experience of an ancient historian. Only the first five books of his history are extant in a complete form ; the next thirteen, in extracts. As for the style of Polybius, Dionysius classes him among the writers "whom no human being can expect to finish." That is natural in the professional Atticist, who could not forgive Polybius for writing the current common Greek of his time. But it is odd that modern scholars, especi- ally if they have read the Atticist historians and Poly- bius close together, should echo the rhetor's protest against the strong living speech of the man of affairs. Polybius does not leave the same impression of per- sonal genius as Thucydides ; but he is always interest- ing, accurate, deep- thinking, and clear-sighted. He has one or two prejudices, no doubt — against Cleo- menes for instance, and against the ^tolians. But how he sees into the minds and feels the aims of almost all the great men he mentions ! His Aratus and his Scipio are among the most living characters of history ; and his Hannibal is not Livy's theatrical villain, but a Semite of genius, seen straight and humanly. Polybius was prosaic in temperament ; he was harsh in criticising other historians. But, apart from his mere scientific achievement, he has that combina- tion of moral and intellectual nobleness which enables a consistent patriot to do justice to his country's
