pAt the outset of the History, Thucydides indicates his general conception of his work and states the principles which governed its composition. His pains to make the History of the Peloponnesian War scrupulously accurate in its facts, as well as answering to a higher sense of literary composition, has made it an exemplar of historical journalism for over two millennia. At the very beginning of the war between Athens and Sparta, he was of the conviction that it would prove more important than any event the Greeks had yet recorded. pSo far as the language of the speeches is concerned, Thucydides plainly avows that his own, adhering as closely as possible to the general sense of what was actually said, but the case of Pericles is probably an exception. The speeches of Pericles, which Thucydides personally heard, offer several examples of that bold imagery which Aristotle and Plutarch agree in ascribing to Pericles while the Funeral Oration especially has a certain majesty of rhythm and a