Nor must the reader expect to find in the _Constitution_ a great work, in any sense of the term. The style, it is true, is simple and clear, and the writer's criticisms are sensible. But the reader will look in vain for evidence of the philosophic insight which makes the _Politics_, even at the present day, the best text-book of political philosophy. It is perhaps hardly too much to say that there is not a single great idea in the whole work. He will look in vain, too, for any consistent view of the history of the constitution as a whole, or for any adequate account of its development. He will find occasional misunderstandings of measures, and confusions of thought. There are appreciations which it is difficult to accept, and inaccuracies which it is difficult to pardon. There are contradictions which the author has overlooked, and there are omissions which are unaccountable. Yet, in spite of such defects, the importance of the _Constitution_ can hardly be exaggerated. Its recovery has rendered obsolete any history of the Athenian constitution that was written before the year 1891. Before this date our knowledge was largely derived from the statements of scholiasts and lexicographers which had not seldom been misunderstood. The recovery of the _Constitution_ puts us for the first time in possession of the evidence. To appreciate the difference that has been made by its recovery, it is only necessary to compare what we now know of the reforms of Cleisthenes with what we formerly knew. It is much of it evidence that needs a careful process of weighing and sifting before it can be safely used; but it is, as a rule, the best, or the only evidence. The First Part may be less trustworthy than the Second; it is not less indispensable to the student of constitutional history. BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A conspectus of the literature of the _Constitution_ complete down to the end of 1892 is given in Sandys p. lxvii., and, though less complete, down to the beginning of 1895 in Busolt, _Griechische Geschichte_, 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 15. In the present article only the most important editions, works or articles are mentioned. Editions of the text: _Editio princeps_, ed. by F. G. Kenyon, 30th January 1891, with commentary. Autotype facsimile of the papyrus (1891). _Aristotelis_ [Greek: politeia Athenaion], ed. G. Kaibel et U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Berlin, Weidmann, 1891). _Aristotelis qui fertur_ [Greek: Athenaion politeia] recensuerunt H. van Herwerden et J. van Leeuwen (Leiden, 1891). Teubner text, ed. by F. Blass (Leipzig, 1892). Edition of the text without commentary by Kenyon. Most of these have passed through several editions. The fullest commentary is that contained in the edition of the text by J. E. Sandys (London, 1893). The best translations are those of Kenyon, in English, and of Kaibel and Kiessling, in German.