Michael Grant gives an assessment of the historian on the fiftieth anniversary of his death
Although Mommsen died in 1903 it was not until 1948 that the publication of a suppressed clause in his will revealed the historian's own view of himself. ' In my life,' he said, ' in spite of my external successes I have failed.' Michael Grant , who is Professor of Humanity at Edinburgh University, speaks of Mommsen's qualities as a historian and of the grounds for his sense of failure.