9:20 pm The hour (actually closer to two hours) was spent beginning a reading of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The reasons for deciding to do this are twofold:

1. This is a book I have heard about many times, but have never actually tried.
2. I seem to prefer a mix of original sources and secondary sources. In the case of ancient Greek history, I am finding that I have thoroughly enjoyed Aeschylus and Aristophanes and now want to try a prose text.

This may take (much) longer than reading a brief synopsis in a book like Ancient Greece, but there is no doubt in my mind that I will have a much better sense of the events by reading the authoritative version. The context for me is slightly different than that for a student taking a course - I have time on my side. I do not have an "end of course" deadline looming in a few weeks. I have the luxury of spending as much, or as little, time on a topic as I wish. Heaven! I haven't fully decided if I will make some notes on this yet. I may use a secondary source later to go over the main highlights of this period in Greek history.

I am very impressed with the various speeches in this book. They are marvels of rhetoric and logical argument.