欧洲文化入门---希腊文化

鸟鸣涧

6. History
Historical writing started early in Greece.
a.        Herodotus(484 – 430 B.C)
He is often called “Father of History”, wrote about the wars between Greeks and Persians. He had a keen eye for drama and pathos. His history, full of anecdotes and digressions and lively dialogue, is wonderfully readable. He kept alive man traditional stories, which were not always accurate. His object in writing was “that the great and wonderful deeds done by Greeks and Perians should not lack renown.” Here is the last part of his account of the battle at the pass of Thermopylae:

In this place they defended themselves with swords – those of them who still had swords – or with their hands and teeth, until at last some of the barbarians threw down the defensive wall and made a frontal attack, while others went round and assailed the Greeks from all sides. Then the Greeks were buried under a hail of missiles.
Such was the courage of those men from Sparta and Thespiae; there is nevertheless one man who is said to have been bravest of all – Dieneces, a Spartan. There is a story about something he said before the battle with the Persians began. Told by one of the local people that when the barbarians fired their arrows, the number of shafts was so vast that the sun was hidden, he was not at all perturbed at that, but made light of the Persian numbers, saying, ‘Our friend has brought us splendid news. If the Persians hide the sun, we shall be fighting in the shade. They say that Dienices the Spartan said quit a lot of things like that, which have been remembered after him.
Next to Dieneces two Spartan brothers are said to have been the bravest, Alpheus and Maron, sons of Orsiphantes. Of the Thespians, a man called Dithyrambus, son of Harmatides, won the highest reputation.
The dead were buried just where they fell, including those who died before the contingent sent away by(King)Leonidas departed. There is an inscription on their tomb, saying:
        Here four thousand from the Peloponnese
        Fought against three millions.
This inscriptions for all the Greek dead, but there is a separate one for the Spartans:
        Stranger;take word to Sparta:
        Here we lie, obeying her orders.
b.        Thucydides(about 460 – 404 B.C.)
Younger than Herodotus, he is more accurate as an historian. He told abut the war between Athens and Sparta and between Athens and Syracuse, a Greek state on the island of Sicily. He traced events to their causes and brought out their effects. He was never dull, but wrote with imagination and power. Macaulay, himself an eminent historian, called Thucydides “the greatest historian that ever lived.”

薰衣草

xixi, i like it.