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Hereditary Genius
341
such as men of the highest ability and culture could find in no other
city. Thus, by a system of partly unconscious selection, she built up a
magnificent breed of human animals, which, in the space of one
century—viz. between 530 and 430 B.C.—produced the following
illustrious persons, fourteen in number:—
Statesmen and Commanders.—Themistocles (mother an alien),
Miltiades, Aristeides, Cimon (son of Miltiades), Pericles (son of
Xanthippus, the victor at Mycale).
Literary and Scientific Men.—Thucydides, Socrates, Xenophon,
Plato.
Poets.— Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes.
Sculptor.—Phidias.
We are able to make a closely-approximate estimate of the
population that produced these men, because the number of the
inhabitants of Attica has been a matter of frequent inquiry, and critics
appear at length to be quite agreed in the general results. It seems
that the little district of Attica contained, during its most flourishing
period (Smith's Class. Geog. Dict.), less than 90, 000 native free-born
persons, 40, 000 resident aliens, and a labouring and artisan population
of 400, 000 slaves. The first item is the only one that concerns us
here, namely, the 90, 000 free-born persons. Again, the common
estimate that population renews itself three times in a century is very
close to the truth, and may be accepted in the present case.
Consequently, we have to deal with a total population of 270, 000
free-born persons, or 135, 000 males, born in the century I have
named. Of these, about one-half, or 67.500, would survive the age of
26, and one-third, or 45, 000, would survive that of 50. As 14
Athenians became illustrious, the selection is only as I to 4, 822 in
respect to the former limitation, and as I to 3, 214 in respect to the
latter. Referring to the table in page 34, it will be seen that this degree
of selection corresponds very fairly to the
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