JOHN STATHATOS
THE BOOK OF LOST CITIES

So much then for the accounts of the Persians and Phoenicians, on whose truth or falsity I have no intention of passing judgement. I prefer to rely on my own knowledge, on the strength of which I will proceed with my history, telling the story as I go along of small cities no less than of great. Most of those which were once great are small today; and those which in my own lifetime have grown to greatness, were small enough in the old days. It makes no odds whether the cities I shall write of are great or small, for in this world none remain prosperous for long.

                                                                                                                                              Herodotus, The Histories, Book I