SOURCE: "Fragments of the Preserved Historians— Especially Polybius," in The Greek Historians: Literature and History— Papers Presented to A. E. Raubitschek, Anma Libri, 1985, pp. 119-39.

In the following excerpt, Thompson examines ways in which the fragmentary state of the remains of Polybiu's Histories may have affected historians' views of his work.

There is a romantic allure to collecting and interpreting fragments of lost works. What could be more pleasurable than reconstructing the plot of Prometheus Unbound? And Toni Raubitschek certainly enjoyed himself studying what Theopompus and Theophrastus said about ostracism. But the same interest does not extend to quotations from works which are preserved in their entirety. We know, for instance, who cites Androtion and what sort of information they gain from him, whether it be facts from Athenian history, details of cult, or merely unusual words. But we do not know who quotes Xenophon, nor whether the...