the earhest Attic prose writing) in the diction (An. Xen. N. p. 299). The
critic referred to is Bernhardy, Synt. 10 (ap. G. Sauppe, Praef. R. A. p. 178,
but I have not been able to verify the passage). For myself, I can only repeat
that it ' feels ' to me to be Attic of an early rather than of late date. The
writer's manner is antique and his vocabulary not obviously modern.
Ixxii INTRODUCTION

the Athenian democracy (for that is the tlieme -of his dis-
course). ^

Between these two views it is perhaps hard to dfecide fairly,
since both, to my mind, are rational. But, as itegards the
date of composition arrived at, -a have a strong conviction in
favour of B.C. 424 circa rather than of B.C. 371 or any later
period suggested ; and if I an:^pressed to give a reason for this
conviction, it is that no political philosopher examining the
constitution of Athens after 403 B.C. (not Machiavelli _him-
self) could, I think, have contwyed to make us live so abso-
lutely in the days of the Pelo^onnesian war. Some note of
the actual moment at which he wrote under the restored
democracy would somewhere have crept in. Sed 'haec
hactenus. - ^

The last topic of this portion of my comment concerns the
subject matter, and may be briefly despatched. The position of
the writer is plainly and frankly stated both in the opening sen-
tence (i. i) and again at the beginning of the third chapter (iii. i).
