at the Greek and Roman
history, soon after both had formally commenced, flowed apart for
centuries; nor did they so much as hear of each other (unless as we
moderns heard of Prester John in Abyssinia, or of the Great Mogul in
India), until the Greek colonies in Calabria, etc., began to have a
personal meaning for a Roman ear, or until Sicily (as the common field
for Greek, Roman, and Carthaginian) began to have a dangerous meaning
for all three. As to the Romans, the very grandeur of their
self-reliance and the sublime faith which they had in the destinies[29]
of Rome, inclined them to carelessness about all but their nearest
neighbours, and sustained for ages their illiterate propensities.
Illiterate they were, because incurious; and incurious because too
haughtily self-confident. The Greeks, on the other hand, amongst the
other infirmities attached to their national levity, had curiosity in
abundance. But it flowed in other channels. There was nothing to direct
their curiosity upon the Romans. Generally speaking, there is good
reason for thinking that as, at this day, the privilege of a man to
present himself at any court of Christendom is recognised upon his
producing a ticket signed by a Lord Chamberlain of some other court, to
the effect that 'the Bearer is known at St. James's,' or 'known at the
Tuileries,' etc.; so, after the final establishment of the Olympic
games, the Greeks looked upon a man's appearance at that great national
congress as the criterion and ratification of his being a known or
knowable person. Unknown, unannounced personally or by proxy at the
great periodic Congress of Greece, even a prince was a _homo
ignorabilis_; one whose existence nobody was bound to take notice of. A
Persian, indeed, was allowably absent; because, as a permanent public
enemy, he could not safely be present. But as to all others, and
therefore as to Romans, the rule of law held--that 'to those not coming
forward and those not in existence, the same line of argument applies.'
[_De non apparentibus et de non existentibus eadem est ratio._]

Had this been otherwise--had the two nations met freely before the light
of history had strengthened into broad daylight--it is certain that the
controversies upon chronology would have been far more and more
intricate than they are. This profound[30] separation, therefore, has
been beneficial to the student in one direction. But in another it has
increased his duties; or, if not increa