Edward Bulwer Lytton - Athens: Its Rise and Fall: With Views of the Literature, Philosophy, and Social Life of the Athenian People

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ATHENS: ITS RISE AND FALL

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was once Britains most famous romantic novelist, rivalling and outselling Dickens in his day. His best-known book was the historical novel The Last Days of Pompeii, yet he was also responsible for this great work of history.

Athens: Its Rise and Fall, originally published in 1837, was the first radical history of Greece in the spirit of Lord Byron. It ranks with Thomas Babington Macaulays History of England and the works of Thomas Carlyle as one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the Romantic Age, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by more than a decade.

To celebrate the bicentenary of Bulwer Lyttons birth, Routledge is reissuing this influential work. This new edition publishes, for the first time, the text of a previously forgotten third volume, recently discovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray.

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, first Baron Lytton (180373), dandy and MP, was the most popular novelist of his day, a friend of Disraeli and Dickens, and author of The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), amongst many other novels and plays. Athens: Its Rise and Fall (1837) was his only historical work.

Oswyn Murray is a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and Praefectus of Holywell Manor Graduate Centre. His books include Early Greece (1993) and The Oxford History of the Classical World (1986).

ATHENS: ITS RISE AND FALL

With views of the literature, philosophy, and social life of the Athenian people

Edward Bulwer Lytton
Bicentenary edition
Edited by Oswyn Murray

First published 1837. This edition first published 2004
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.

This edition and arrangement 2004 Oswyn Murray

Previously unpublished material 2004 Knebworth Estates
www.knebworthhouse.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1380 1873.
Athens : its rise and fall : with views of the literature, philosophy, and social life of the Athenian people / Edward Bulwer Lytton ; [edited and with new material by Murray, Oswyn].
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Athens (Greece)History. I. Murray, Oswyn. II. Title.
DF285.L992 2004 2003061165

938.5dc22
ISBN 0-203-49044-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-57391-9 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-32087-9 (Print Edition )

ILLUSTRATIONS

Bulwer Lytton as a young man
(Knebworth House, drawing. Reproduced by courtesy of the Knebworth Estates)

(Taken from Thomas Arnolds edition of Thucydides vol. II)

WELCOME

On the occasion of Edward Bulwer Lyttons 200th birthday in May 2003, scholars and enthusiasts from around the world gathered at the authors home, Knebworth House, in Hertfordshire. In the dusty light of Bulwer Lyttons Jacobean-panelled hall; beneath the frieze painting of his declaration that under this old roof tree there be worth in all, wit in some, laughter open, slander dumb; in accents American, Italian, German, Dutch, and the occasional English; and in hallmark sentences even longer than this one favourite passages of Bulwer Lytton were performed with such warmth and enthusiasm that the continuing influence of this great Victorian was firmly and reassuringly established in the twenty-first century.

It was a splendid event. We marvelled at plays, poetry, short stories, novels of all genres, philosophical tracts, literary criticism, political speeches, social histories, ancient histories. The diversity of Bulwer Lyttons contribution to Victorian literature was cited as the one and only reason he is not today fted as a genius in any one of these fields.

My privileged position as host had a single drawback, the task of cutting short any reader who extended his allotted time. Only one orator gave me trouble. Dr Murrays honey-voiced readings of the virgin passages of Athens: Its Rise and Fallthat are now published in this volumewere so rich and hypnotic, that I simply could not stop him. The minutes ticked by, our tea got cold, but we were seduced. The thrill of hearing these beautiful passages transcribed for the very first time from Bulwer Lyttons discarded papers was a highlight of the celebration.

Dr Murrays warmth and enthusiasm for this important work see it here republished by its original publisher, Routledge, including, for the first time, those fragments omitted from earlier editions. All you are missing is the pleasure of Dr Murray reading it to you.

Knebworth House,	The Hon. Henry Lytton Cobbold,
Autumn 2003.	great-great-great-grandson of Edward Bulwer Lytton.

PREFACE

Many friends and colleagues have helped my serendipitous work on this marvellous book. I wish first of all to thank the Lytton family, and especially Lord Cobbold and his son the Hon. Henry Cobbold, who encouraged and facilitated my work in every way as soon as I contacted them. I should also like to record the great pleasure of meeting fellow enthusiasts at the magni-ficent celebration of Bulwers bicentennial birthday at Knebworth on the weekend of 25 May 2003.

The frontispiece was provided by Henry Cobbold and is reproduced with the permission of the Knebworth Estates. Mrs Susan Flood, County Archivist of Hertfordshire, arranged for me to view the manuscript of the work, and to borrow the unpublished section on deposit in Balliol College Library. Here my colleagues, the librarian, Dr Penny Bulloch, and her deputy, Alan Tadiello, arranged for me to spend many days transcribing the text, and assisted me with their expertise in nineteenth century handwriting.

It was the online bookshop with its list Specimina Septimanalia which first brought the work to my attention. Tom Figueira and led me to the many American editions. In order to produce a digitally scanned manuscript, I needed to obtain a cheap edition of the book, whose binding could be stretched for scanning: this was made possible by the Abebooks listings, which revealed two physically separated volumes of the first American edition (Harper Brothers 1837), Vol. I in Beaverton, Oregon priced $24, Vol. II in Houston, Texas at $8. For a total of $32 plus shipping, I was the proud possessor of a recreated set, the first volume previously having belonged to Edward A. and Eugene H. Lynch 1837, the second anonymous; I am happy to report that their sturdy American pioneer bindings stood up remarkably well to subsequent maltreatment by my daughter Ros on the photocopier. The same source helped me to acquire a fine English first edition and other relevant works of Bulwer Lyttons early radical-dandy period.

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