Thucydides 2.0
Last weekend, I was listening to one of my favourite (France Inter) radio shows, Quand les dieux rôdaient sur la Terre (when gods roamed the Earth), and the story was about the siege of the tiny island of Melos by the Athenians and the subsequent massacre, based on the report given in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War and in particular the Melian Dialogue. I was unaware of this episode, but the modern tone of the dialogue excerpts was striking and made me think they equally applied to modern leaders… To wit,
“The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” — Melian Dialogue, Book V
“Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.” — Book I, §20
“Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.” — Book III, Cleon’s speech
“It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end — to act first, and wait for disaster to find out what to do.” — Book I, §78
“Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice.” — Book III, §8
May 28, 2026 at 11:27 am
For about three years now I’ve been indulging in what might be described as ‘an autistic special interest’ in Ancient Greek language and thereby Ancient Greek history. I listen to spoken Ancient Greek (e.g. the fantastic recordings from the Polis Institute, Jerusalem) while driving to and from work, and my bedside reading are vintage editions of Aristophanes and Plato. (Ironically many of these books were salvaged from an industrial waste bin, having been dumped there when Notre Dame University in Fremantle disposed of its Classics library.) The parallels to modern life are striking, perhaps in part because these writers were so painfully aware of living in an age of moral and political decline.
May 28, 2026 at 11:57 am
Great to hear of your commendable special interest! And shocking that an entire Classics library ends up as waste…