The treatise
[Greek text which cannot be reproduced], did it remain to us in its
entirety, would have been one of the most valuable landmarks in the
progress of historical criticism, and the first scientific treatise
on the science of comparative politics.
A few fragments still remain to us, in one of which we find
Aristotle appealing to the authority of an ancient inscription on
the 'Disk of Iphitus,' one of the most celebrated Greek
antiquities, to corroborate his theory of the Lycurgean revival of
the Olympian festival; while his enormous research is evinced in
the elaborate explanation he gives of the historical origin of
proverbs such as [Greek text which cannot be reproduced], of
religious songs like the [Greek text which cannot be reproduced] of
the Botticean virgins, or the praises of love and war.
And, finally, it is to be observed how much wider than Plato's his
theory of the origin of society is. They both rest on a
psychological basis, but Aristotle's recognition of the capacity
for progress and the tendency towards a higher life shows how much
deeper his knowledge of human nature was.
In imitation of these two philosophers, Polybius gives an account
of the origin of society in the opening to his philosophy of
history.
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