43. Q. What aim are the selections made to serve? A. Not only to show the matter and method of Herodotus, but to illustrate the characters of two men in particular, brought into the strong light of mutual contrast by the struggle—Xerxes and Themistocles.
44. Q. To what is the fact due that Thucydides is not so entertaining a historian as Herodotus? A. Partly to the nature of his subject; but partly to the nature of the man.
45. Q. What does Thucydides describe in his history? A. The so-called Peloponnesian war.
46. Q. To what conflict is this name given? A. To a conflict, continued with little interruption during twenty-seven years, between Sparta, with her allies, on the one side, and Athens, with her allies, on the other.
47. Q. What was the prize contended for in this war? A. The leadership in Hellenic affairs.
48. Q. How did Thucydides regard the Peloponnesian war? A. He thought that never in the world had there been a war so great as promised in its imminency to be the Peloponnesian war.
49. Q. In what particulars is the history of Thucydides important? A. Not as history, but, first, as literature, and secondly, as fund of illustration for the Greek national genius, it is of the very highest importance.
50. Q. In what form is it composed? A. In the form of annals, that is, the events and incidents are related chronologically by years.