The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the

Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke

out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation

than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The

preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last

state of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking

sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once having it in

contemplation. Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known in history,

not only of the Hellenes, but of a large part of the barbarian world—I had

almost said of mankind. For though the events of remote antiquity, and even

those that more immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of time

be clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far

back as was practicable leads me to trust, all point to the conclusion that

there was nothing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters.