44 



ROT not taken 



names ; yet it is clear, from our having the ufe of coined mo- 

 ney in commerce, and of cavalry in war, as well as from feveral 

 other circumftances, that we were more civilized in thofe days 

 than the Greeks could pretend to be when they firft invaded 

 Afia. 



THOSE, therefore, of the Greek writers who chofe to relate 

 ancient events might fhape their ftories as they pleafed. There 

 could be nothing to contradict them, but a vague and confufed 

 tradition, (if there was fo much) which, it is plain, would, at 

 no time, be much regarded, and would foon be forgot or dif- 

 believed, if the accounts of thefe writers were more flattering 

 or favourable to their countrymen. Indeed) the Greeks feem 

 all along to have had a natural inclination to pervert and falfify 

 facts, and this drew upon them the fever eft reproaches from the 

 lovers of truth. 



id Gracia mendax 



.Audet in hijloria. 



IT may, perhaps, be faid, that this is no more than the af- 

 fertion of a Roman fatirift, which ought not to be liflened to. 

 But it is eafy to fupport JUVENAL'S teftimony by that of fome 

 of the moft judicious Greek writers themfelves. DIODORUS 

 SICULUS informs us, that the ancient hiftorians contradicted 

 one another fo much, that thofe of later times, who felt they 

 had talents for writing hiftory, abandoned all remote, and be- 

 took themfelves to recent periods ; and THUCYDIDES {hews, 

 that not only with regard to ancient, but even as to recent 

 events, the Greeks, his contemporaries, were very ill informed. 

 In his introduction, he exprefies himfelf as follows : ' It is 

 " very difficult to find out the truth as to ancient affairs ; for 

 " men content themfelves with reports as to paft events, with- 

 " out being at the trouble to examine them, even though they 

 ** relate to their own country." And he refers for proof, to the 



celebrated 



