#27

“To begin with, a scholar approaches them in a most blackguardly fashion: he begins timidly, moderately, he begins by asking a most modest question: 'Is it no from there? Does not a certain country derives its name from that particular place?' Or, 'Does this document date from another and later age?' Or, 'Are we sure that such a people does not mean quite another people?' He immediately quotes such and such ancient writers, and as soon as he detects some kind of a hint or something that he believes to be a hint, he at once becomes emboldened and self-confident, talks to the writers of antiquity like an old friend, pits questions to them and supplies the answers himself, forgetting completely that he has begun with a timid supposition; he already believes that he can see it all, that everything is clear and his argument concluded with the words: 'So that is how it was; so this is the people we have to assume it is; so it is from this point of view that we look at the subject!' Then he proclaims ex cathedra, for all to hear, and the newly discovered truth is sent travelling all over the world, gathering followers and disciples” (id, 197-198).