. . . muttered the ogre

C. Northcote Parkinson: The Law and the Profits (1960)

It is also usual in works of learning to refer, sooner or later, to ancient Athens. This book will be no exception, difficult as it is to maintain for long the reverent attitude associated with classical scholarship. The Athens admired in the classical VI Form is, of course, purely imaginary, the invention of classical philologists in whom any sense of history (or of reality) is almost completely lacking. It is well, however, to bring it in occasionally, thus lending tone to the whole book and hinting that the author went to the right sort of school (as in fact he did). Now, Athens* provides an early example of what is called democracy. . . .

*Athens became an example of democratic government at some period in the middle of the nineteenth century when that form of rule was becoming fashionable in Britain and the United States. . . .