Book Two, Letter Nine

Part 4 of 6

                                                  Thucydides

To Thucydides, on men, women, and democracy

Ok, so back to the tyranny of Athens.

Once again, I will quote from Pericles, an Athenian leader. (Book 2, Chapter 6)

“And do not imagine that what we are fighting for is simply the question of freedom or slavery: there is also involved the loss of our empire and the dangers arising from the hatred which we have incurred in administering it.”

The hatred which the Athenian's incurred seemed to have been quite justifiable, since Athens “...has spent more life and labour in warfare than any other state, thus winning the greatest power that has ever existed in history, such a power that will be remembered for ever by posterity...”

It seems that the Athenians were well aware of the “democratic dictatorship” they held over their subject nations, and found the cause of Empire to be satisfactory justification for their overbearing dominance. I read of excessive taxes, unfair trade deals, punishing levels of conscription and continual wars of foreign conquest or the subjugation of rebellions. Essentially the same model for Empire that had existed since long before Athens.

Athens, proud of its military achievements against the Persians in the previous war, seems strangely unaware that their own war with Sparta was just a border conflict, funded and encouraged by the distant Persians, who were always ready to pay Greeks to fight each other. Actually, a lot of what we moderns would criticise America for, in their greedy manipulations of the middle east, comes across as standard procedure in the ancient world. The Persians seem to have laid the groundwork for modern empire management, and this whole Peloponnesian war would probably appear on Persian tax records as money well spent keeping the Greeks busy fighting each other, and out of western Asia.

It has been observed of the French revolution, that the revolutionaries rather quickly became the new tyrants, having slain their enemies. It seems that Athens, having united most of Hellas (Greece) in their prior war against Persian subjugation, got right on with business subjugating their own allies, just as the Persians would have done, had they won.

From a speech made by the Mytilleneans (former allies of Athens) at a gathering at Olympia. (Book three, chapter one):

“The object of the alliance was the liberation of the Hellenes from Persia, not the subjugation of the Hellenes to Athens. So long as the Athenians in their leadership respected our independence, we followed them with enthusiasm. But when we saw that they were becoming less and less antagonistic to Persia and more and more interested in enslaving their own allies, then we became frightened. Because of the multiple voting system, the allies were incapable of uniting in self defence, and so they all became enslaved...”

“...In most cases goodwill is the basis of loyalty, but in our case fear was the bond, and it was more through terror than through friendship that we were held together in alliance.”

Living in a democracy as I do, we are taught to believe that democracy and freedom are universal truths that will bring about justice for all, and that ultimately all other forms of government are variations of oppression not to be tolerated in the least degree. Your book, Thucydides, tells a very different story, and I shudder at the visible parallels within my own world.

It is horrible to contemplate the diminishing cycles of history. The mistakes we seem unable to avoid. I don't have any solutions, no alternatives to the tragedy of the Thucydidean Trap, as they call it: namely that powerful nations live in fear of rising nations, and that war is the common outcome of this fear.

I read, I take notes, I write. I am a grain of sand on the beach of our common ancestry.