History of civilization, being a course of lectures on the origin and development of the main institutions of mankind (1887) (14760896761)

Identifier: historyofciviliz00reic (find matches)
Title: History of civilization, being a course of lectures on the origin and development of the main institutions of mankind
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Reich, Emil, 1854-1910
Subjects: Civilization
Publisher: Cincinnati, O. : The author
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive



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student. They are considereddry and monotonous, they occupy an inferior place inliterature, they partake more of the character of a profes-sion then of a liberal art. The dislike of politics is to bemet with even among scholars, whose duty it would be topay the closest possible attention to all political matters.You know that numberless books have been written on theliterature, art, science and history of ancient Greece. Butcomparatively speaking, very few books have been writtenon the political institutions of ancient Greece. There is noexaggeration in saying that a whole library has been writ-ten on the different grammatical character of any of theGreek particles, say e. g. an, kata, etc., and there isscarcely a line in all Greek literature, and we possess, ac-cording to F. A. Wolffs statement, 1200 Greek literaryworks, I say there is scarcely a line in all these numerous,sometimes very voluminous writings that has not been sub-jected to unceasing and unterminable comment and eluci-
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Political Institutions of Greece. 143 dation of a grammatical and literary character. The com-ments and lucubrations on the political purport of thesewritings, however, although one of the most essential partsof our study of antiquity, has so far been, if not neglected,yet at any rate poorly treated of. With regard to some leading questions on the politicalstructure of Grecian cities we have still to refer to thelabors of the savants of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-turies ; to Sigonius, to Meursius, to Gruter and Reinesius.In modern times a few highly valuable books have ap-peared but they do not cover the whole ground. Thisscarcity of inquiries is the more astonishing the more wehave to acknowledge that political institutions are amongall institutions of a people, the most imi)ortant ones. I sayof all the institutions of a people the political institutionsare by far the most influential, ^le most essential ones. By influential I mean an influence which extends to themost ordinar