The definitive account of the second Peloponnesian War is found in the writings of 5th century B.C. Greek historian Thucydides. You can read an overview of his work and place your bid on the Logos CP page for History of the Peloponnesian War.
Granted, Thucydides is not a household name, unlike Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Nonetheless, Thucydides produced one of the best, if not the best, historic writings from ancient Western civilization. His History gives us a rare glimpse of 5th century B.C. Greece through the eyes of one man who lived through the subject of his work. His engaging writing style, scientific chronicle of events, political insight, and keen observation of human nature and conduct, together make Thucydides required reading in classical and modern studies of foreign policy and international relations, political realism, leadership, military strategy, war, and ancient literature and history of the Western world.
Words from the History:
“Athenians: Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” – Peloponnesian War, Book 5:89
“Pericles: …for grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed.” – Peloponnesian War, Book 2:44
“Pericles: …the real disgrace of poverty [lies] not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it.” – Peloponnesian War, Book 2:40
“Cleon: …ordinary men usually manage public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every proposition brought forward, thinking that they cannot show their wit in more important matters, and by such behavior too often ruin their country; while those who mistrust their own cleverness are content to be less learned than the laws, and less able to pick holes in the speech of a good speaker; and being fair judges rather than rival athletes, generally conduct affairs successfully” – Peloponnesian War, Book 3:37
Regarding Thucydides and his work:
“Thucydides, when read…the way he intended, is revelatory… [He] created a remarkable equivalence between his text and the war…The Peloponnesian War is his war; his text is the Peloponnesian War. But it is also every war, fought again and again, over and over again, endlessly…To read Thucydides is to understand what is happening as it happens, to identify some order amid chaos, to watch ethical conflict… play out in real time, to grasp the perverted meanings of partisan slogans…as they emerge, to recognize recurring patterns of behavior, of states and their political leaders alike, and to see, beneath the surface, the self-interest that actually motivates them. On the evidence of history thus far,…we will continue to find rationales for declaring war…continue to listen to ambitious, patriotic politicians…continue to invade faraway countries,…continue to debate the policies and politics of war, to be divided against ourselves, and we will continue to commit atrocities on and off the battlefield. For a creature of such a nature, Thucydides is strong medicine, necessary medicine. Read Thucydides, and tell a few others to read him too. It may not save civilization, but it is humbling and humanizing, and that is perhaps the most we can ask.” -- Hunter Rawlings, President of the Association of American Universities
“The experience that we were having in the world had been experienced by Thucydides in his world already…in fact, his present had been my future…Whatever chronology might say, Thucydides’ world and my world have proved to be philosophically contemporary.” -- Arnold Toynbee, British historian
“The history of Thucydides differs from that of Herodotus as a portrait differs from the representation of an imaginary scene…I have no hesitation in pronouncing Thucydides the greatest historian who ever lived.” -- Lord Macaulay, British historian and Secretary at War
There are several good English translations of Thucydides available, and the Loeb Classical Library edition is one of them. Place your bid in CP so that we can get this outstanding resource in digital Logos format.
David
