12.
(16) Polybius, viii. 4: [Greek text which cannot be reproduced]
(17) Polybius resembled Gibbon in many respects. Like him he held
that all religions were to the philosopher equally false, to the
vulgar equally true, to the statesman equally useful.
(18) Cf. Polybius, xii. 25, [Greek text which cannot be reproduced]
(19) Polybius, xxii. 8.
(20) I mean particularly as regards his sweeping denunciation of
the complete moral decadence of Greek society during the
Peloponnesain War, which, from what remains to us of Athenian
literature, we know must have been completely exaggerated. Or,
rather, he is looking at men merely in their political dealings:
and in politics the man who is personally honourable and refined
will not scruple to do anything for his party.
(21) Polybius, xii. 25.
(22) THE TWO PATHS, Lect. iii. p. 123 (1859 ed.).
End of the Project Gutenberg eText Essays and Lectures by Oscar Wilde
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