Acton may have been a wise man, but he was an indifferent historian, often surprised by the discovery of intrigue or double-dealing behind an official façade into a somewhat amateurish reaction: astonishment at the commonplace, overemphasis on the insignificant, heavily moral attitudes.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Acton may have been a wise man, but he was an indifferent historian, often surprised by the discovery of intrigue or double-dealing behind an official façade into a somewhat amateurish reaction: astonishment at the commonplace, overemphasis on the insignificant, heavily moral attitudes." in the context of "Geoffrey Elton, introduction to John Neville Figgis, The Divine Right of Kings (1965 ed.), p. x" to mean that wisdom is timeless.