[19:1] Thus Strabo says, when speaking of Sicyon, that the tyrants who had long ruled the city before its liberation by Aratus were for the most part good men; and this accounts for the high reputation of Sicyon for culture. It was Lycophron, in his tragedy entitled the _Casandreans_, who painted the typical portrait of a tyrant in the monster Apollodorus. (Cf. my _Greek Life and Thought_, p. 283.) Whether he was really as bad as he was painted, and whether his Galatian guards really drank human blood, &c., depends on the comparative weight the critic assigns to general improbability, as against the veracity of a stage portrait. We have no other evidence, for the late historians borrow the traditional features without criticism. But let us suppose that in the next century the evidence concerning the character of Napoleon III depended upon Mr. Freeman's allusions in his _Federal Government_, and upon V. Hugo's monograph, would the inferences from these great writers be even near the real truth? [20:1] The original preface to his first volume marks out the limits which he duly attained. [23:1] The first edition of Niebuhr's history appeared in 1811. The second, a wholly different and enlarged work, was published in 1827, and translated into English by Thirlwall and Hare in 1828. Grote quotes Niebuhr constantly, and takes from his Lectures on Ancient History more than from any other modern source. [25:1] Thus Duncker's chapter on the Olympic games shows at once that he never was at Olympia, and does not understand the site. [26:1] _Rambles and Studies in Greece_, p. 107. See also the excellent note in Duruy's _History_, ii. chap. vii. sect. 1, on the frequent exaggerations of the number of Athenian citizens, which never reached this high figure. [26:2] Dr. Dörpfeld, with his new map before him, estimated the area for me the last time I was at Athens. He found that counting in every available space, such as gangways, &c., 16,000 was the limit. It seems, therefore, highly probable that an average audience would not exceed 10,000. I cannot remember in Attic literature any allusion to crowding or want of room in this theatre. [26:3] _Op. cit._, pp. 108-9. Duruy, at the opening of his twentieth chapter, has given excellent pictures and plans of the theatre in question. CHAPTER II. RECENT TREATMENT OF THE GREEK MYTHS. [Sidenote: The newer histories.] [Sidenote: Not justifiable without particular reasons.] [Sidenote: Max Duncker.] [Sidenote: Not suited to English readers.]