21.
Yet any one who upon the grounds which I have given arrives at some such conclusion as
my1 own about those ancient times, would not be far wrong. He must not be misled by
the exaggerated fancies of the poets, or by the tales of chroniclers who seek to please
the ear rather than to speak the truth. Their accounts cannot be tested by him; and most
of the facts in the lapse of ages have passed into the region of romance. At such a
distance of time he must make up his mind to be satisfied with conclusions resting upon
the clearest evidence which can be had.
[2]
And, though men will always judge any war in which they are actually fighting to be the
greatest at the time, but, after it is over, revert to their admiration of
some other which has preceded, still the Peloponnesian, if estimated by the actual
facts, will certainly prove to have been the greatest ever known.
1 Uncertainty of early history. If estimated by facts the Peloponnesian greater than any preceding war.
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