The Student's Greece. By Sir William Smith, D.C.L. A New
Edition by G. E. Marindin, MA. (John Murray.)—Sir W. Smith's hook was published more than forty years ago. He had the advantage of being able to use Grote, whose " History " was completed in 1856. and Thirlwall, who was about ton years earlier. Much has been added to our knowledge of the subject during the last thirty years. Schliemann, for instance, net to work in 11369, and his discoveries have revolutionised the belief of scholars about the Homeric poems and the age in which they originated. The great weapon of discovery which Schliemann used has been actively employed elsewhere, and has added much to our stores of knowledge. Then there have been the great literary dis- coveries, Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution, for instance, and Bacchylides. Besides new materials there has been a new spirit. On the whole, there has been a reaction towards more confidence in the ancient authorities. The scepticism which Sir G. W. Cox exemplifies has gone out of favour (though Mr. Marindin mentions some curiously audacious conjectures, as Professor Bury's sug- gestion that the shield held up on Pentelicus was shown by a Persian scout and not by a partisan of the Peisistratidae). Alto- gether, there was plenty of occasion for revision and addition, tasks which Mr. Marindin seems to have performed with much skill and out of a competent knowledge. We miss in the sum. teary of Alexander the Great's character and achievements a notice of his extraordinary combination of the warrior and the strategist. In each of his three great battles he turned the tide by his personal exploits.
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