More and more clearly it was seen that the ideas of early copyists,
and even of early possessors of masterpieces in ancient literature,
were entirely different from those to which the modern world is
accustomed. It was seen that manipulations and interpolations in
the text by copyists and possessors had long been considered not
merely venial sins, but matters of right, and that even the issuing
of whole books under assumed names had been practised freely.
In 1811 a light akin to that thrown by Bentley and Wolf upon
ancient literature was thrown by Niebuhr upon ancient history. In
his _History of Rome_ the application of scientific principles to the
examination of historical sources was for the first time exhibited
largely and brilliantly. Up to that period the time-honoured
utterances of ancient authorities had been, as a rule, accepted as
final: no breaking away, even from the most absurd of them, was
looked upon with favour, and any one presuming to go behind them
was regarded as troublesome and even as dangerous.
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