Thucydides was, inter alia, a political thinker of rare insight, Isocrates an avowed propagandist. Their works present several passages of apparent congruity in their assessments of the Athenian Empire; but all such appearances are illusory. For by the nature of their personalities they view their subject from entirely different standpoints, and, in citing the same facts, only underline the differences that exist between them.

There are a number of instances in Tacitus' treatment of Tiberius which concern the emperor's behaviour when some mention of his predecessor was made. Critics of Tacitus have apparently overlooked Tiberius' extreme sensitivity on this subject, with the result that interpretations have been offered which tend to obscure what Tacitus is trying to say about Tiberius. It is the intention of this note to examine such passages, in an attempt to clarify Tiberius' attitude and Tacitus' presentation of it.

Characters, though not under that title, began like many other things with Homer. A δειλός is typified in Iliad xiii and the Catalogue of Ships has brief descriptions of the leaders of the various contingents. Ajax the Lesser, for example, ὀλίγος μὲν ἔην, λινοθώρηξ,/ ἐγχείῃ δ' ἐκέκαστο Пανέλληναςκαὶ'Αχαιούς. Or Nireus, ‘the best-looking man that went to Troy, excepting the blameless Achilles’: ἀλλ' ἀλαпαδνὸς ἔην, пαῦρος δέ οἱ εἳпετο λαός. Best known, and in contrast to Nireus the handsome, is Homer's portrayal of Thersites (αἴσχιστος δὲ ἀνὴρ ὑпό λιον ἦλθε) with full supporting details of his figure. The physical oddities of Pittakos the sage were emphasized in verses by Alkaios: Herodotos, through Otanes the Persian in Book iii, depicted the nature of a tyrant. This recalls ὁ τυραννικός of Plato Republic iv. 573 c as well as his political descriptions of men and constitutions in Book viii.7 Aristotle also pictured tyrants (Politics 1313b): as well as (for ethics) a χαῦνος, (for rhetoric) a young man and an old, and the germ of the later portrait Character is seen in Thucydides already (Themistocles, i. 138. 3). But the truest pre-Theophrastan Character is that of Philokleon in the Wasps—the lover of the courts, φιληλιαστής.

The music of the ancient Greeks, apart from a dozen or so fragments from the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman period, is lost to us. It is unlikely that we shall ever be in a position to appreciate it as we can appreciate their architecture, sculpture, and literature. We can only conjecture as to the extent of our loss from the high regard in which it was held by the Greeks themselves. From Homer onwards Greek authors give an honourable place to it. In lyric poetry, drama, and dithyramb it was a vital element, and Plato and Aristotle were deeply concerned about its use in education and its effect on character. The music teacher (κιθαριστ⋯ς) provided an important part of every boy's education. In some states musical education was compulsory (e.g. in Arcadia up to the age of thirty and in Crete). Without a knowledge of music the Greek was considered uneducated.

If the Phaedra is Seneca's best-known play, it has suffered more than any other from inadequate or misdirected critical attention. Most accounts have been preoccupied with its similarity or dissimilarity to the Hippolytus of Euripides, or else with its rhetorical luxuriance. The first group has spoken of it as a not very meritorious rewrite of Euripides' play (Version I, II, or mixed). Méridier, for example, in his Hippolyte d'Euripide devotes a chapter to the Phaedra, giving a résumé of the plot, listing parallels and discrepancies with the Hippolytus, and providing by way of conclusion an ‘étude littéraire’. In this he treats the play as mere adaptation, remarking ‘on voit ce que l'œuvre de Sénèque a perdu au changement’. Where Seneca has introduced originalities, ‘ces scenes nouvelles ne témoignent pas toujours … d'un art très heureux’.

The poem that stands first in Vergil's bucolic collection is a dialogue between two herdsmen. It begins with five of the most exquisite lines in Latin literature, and it is worth while examining them in some detail:

Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi siluestrem tenui musam meditaris auena: nos patriae finis et dulcia linquimus arua. nos patriam fugimus: tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra formosam resonare doces Amaryllida siluas. (1–5)

To learn that the Greeks knew of no equivalent to the special church music of today might cause some surprise. But, in fact, it was under the auspices of religion that their music in most of its branches was cultivated, its character being as manifold as that of the rites to which it was attached. The music associated with, for instance, the cult of Apollo was restrained, pacific, and harmonious, while the opposite character of turbulence and excitement typified that of Dionysiac worship. These were the classical and romantic strains of Greek music. Although the former approaches the more closely to our own idea of the liturgical style, the one was, to the Greeks, no more inherently sacred than the other.

Exploration in ancient Egypt was fostered originally by the militaristic designs of the Pharaohs. Between the end of the Third Dynasty (c. 2600) and the Eighteenth (1570–1304), the Egyptian kings were continually extending their southern frontier, and bringing under their control the Ethiopians or Kushites of Nubia. The Sahara blocked any expansion westward, although it was certainly less extensive in those times and contained more abundance of water. The camel, however, had probably not been introduced into Egypt, and there was little incentive for traders to make long marches across the desert. Nigerian gold, ivory, and slaves were brought in by sea. Travel by boat up the Nile therefore remained the sole means of opening up new areas. Along with the military expeditions went scholars and explorers who brought back tales of the Upper Nile, which gradually came to the ears of Greek visitors to the Delta region in Mycenaean times. From the Homeric poems we may see in what form they were assimilated by the Greeks. At the edge of the river Ocean were said to dwell the Aithiopes, ‘burnt-faced men’, probably Somalis, while the story of the Pygmies who fought with cranes shows knowledge of the tribes of the interior. It is significant, too, that the name given to the Nile in Homer is Aigyptos, the river being equated with the country. There is however hardly any mention of Egypt in Greek literature between Homer and Hekataios. Not until 664 were Greeks encouraged to visit the country, and then Psammetik I brought in Lydian and Carian mercenaries perhaps by arrangement with the Lydian tyrant Gyges. By means of these troops he was able to break the power of the Kushites, who had established themselves as rulers over Egypt.