The Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
Cummings mentioned this in his blog as an example of leaders taking gambles and squandering opportunities. I’ve found his blog quite impressive in its breadth of subjects and focus on results so wanted to read something he’s influenced by. It was slow going after the initial hundred pages. When reading an ancient text translated from a dead language, we’re reliant on the translator’s skill. This was the hardest read of the year in terms of enthusiasm, BUT, there is a huge amount of wisdom and insight into human nature that is very applicable today.
The stirrings of war
Pericles’ oration
“I am against making any concessions to the Peloponnesians, even though I am aware that the enthusiastic state of mind in which people are persuaded to enter upon a war is not retained when it comes to action, and that people’s minds are altered by the course of events”.
“There is often no more logic in the course of events than there is in the plans of men, and this is why we usually blame our luck when things happen in ways that we did not expect.”
“People seem to feel more strongly about their legal wrongs than about the wrongs inflicted on them by violence.”
“Do not allow considerations of other people’s opinions and other people’s complaints to involve you in difficulties which you will feel yourselves. Think, too, of the great part that is played by the unpredictable in war: think of it now, before you are actually committed to war. The longer a war lasts, the more things depend on accidents.”
“As for being slow and cautious - which is the usual criticism made against us - there is nothing to be ashamed of in that. If you take something on before you are ready for it, hurry at the beginning will mean delay at the end.”
Miscellaneous observations from early chapters
Some of the states that revolted from athens chose to pay tribute instead of arms. When they rebelled they found that the athenians had grown rich, whilst they had become inadequately armed and inexperienced in war.
As the defeated Corinthians were retreating, quite a large section of their army, coming under severe pressure and being uncertain of its route, plunged into an enclosure on someone’s estate which had a deep ditch all around it so that there was no way out.
A quote about Themistocles
“Without studying a subject in advance or deliberating over it later, but simply using the intelligence that was his by nature, he had the power to reach the right conclusion in matters that have to be settled on the spur of the moment and do not admit for long discussions… to sum him up in a few words, it may be said that through force of genius and by rapidity of action this man was supreme at doing precisely the right thing at precisely the right moment.”
Pericles on the Spartan’s fighting as a council:
“So long as they have no central deliberative authority to produce quick decisive action, when they all have equal votes, though they all come from different nationalities and every one of these is mainly concerned with its own interests - the usual result of which is that nothing gets done at all, some being particularly anxious to avenge themselves on an enemy and others no less anxious ot avoid coming to any harm themselves… Instead each state thinks that the responsibility for its future belongs to someone else, and so, while everyone ahs the same idea privately, no one notices that from a general point of view things are going downhill.”
“What I fear is not the enemy’s strategy, but our own mistakes.”
Pericles and the funeral oration
Pericles’ funeral oration is regarded as one of the finest examples of oratory in the ancient world. I listened to an episode of ‘in our time’ about Pericles and the three speakers talked about it extensively.
On getting the balance right when praising past heroes:
“Those who don’t know so much may feel envy for the dead, and think the orator over-praises them, when he speaks of exploits that are beyond their own capacities. Praise of other people is tolerable up to a certain point, the point where one still believes that one could do oneself some of the things one is hearing about.”
On democracy:
“Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people… what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability a man possesses. We are free and tolerant in our private lives; but in our public affairs we keep to the law.”
On openness:
“We rely, not on secret weapons, but on our own real courage and loyalty.”
“We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to be boasted about.”
Not part of the funeral oration, but still good:
“A man who has the knowledge but lacks the power clearly to express it is no better off than if he never had any ideas at all.”
“It is more of a disgrace to be robbed of what one has than to fail in a new undertaking.”
“Intelligence confirms courage - the intelligence that makes ones able to look down on one’s opponent, and which proceeds not by hoping for the best (a method only valuable in desperate situations), by by estimating what the facts are, and thus obtaining a clearer vision of what to expect.”
“Pericles was convinced of the rightness of his own views about not going out to battle, but he saw that for the moment the Athenians were being led astray by their angry feelings. So he summoned no assembly or special meeting of the people, fearing that any general discussion would result in wrong decisions, made under the influence of anger rather than of reason.”
A speech from Cleon, one of the more violent Athenians on how to treat rebelling Mytilenians:
“When great prosperity comes suddenly and unexpectedly to a state, it usually breeds arrogance… it is easier to ward off hardship than to maintain happiness.”
“It is a general rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well and look up to those who make no concessions.”
Diodotus takes a more compassionate stance:
“Haste and anger are to my mind the two greatest obstacles to wise counsel… if we are sensible people, we shall see that the question is not so much whether they are guilty as whether we are making the right decision for ourselves.”
“One of Cleon’s chief points is that to inflict the death penalty will be useful to us in the future as a means of deterring other cities from revolt… None has ever yet rebelled in the belief that it had insufficient resources, either in itself or from its allies, to make the attempt. Cities and individuals alike, all are by nature disposed to do wrong, and there is no law that will prevent it, as is shown by the fact that men have tried every kind of punishment, constantly adding to the list, in the attempt to find greater security from criminals… If Cleon’s method is adopted, can you not see that every city will not only make much more careful preparations for revolt, but will also hold out against siege to the very end, since to surrender or late means the same fate?”
Towards the end of the war
The Athenian democratic model breaks down as the history progresses, resulting in a state divided by bipartisan side picking. Really interesting since it has echoes of politics and the US and Brexit today. This phase talks about how the old qualities of reason, oratory and dialogue give way to petty arguing and ideological disputes.
“Most people are more ready to call villainy cleverness than simple-mindedness honesty.”
“The simple way of looking at things, which is so much the mark of a noble nature, was regarded as a ridiculous quality and soon ceased to exist.”
“No guarantee could be given that would be trusted, no oath sworn that people would fear to break… instead of being confident in others, they devoted their energies to providing against being injured themselves.”
“As a rule those who were least remarkable for intelligence showed the greatest powers of survival. Such people recognized their own deficiencies and the superior intelligence of their opponents; fearing that they might lose a debate or find themselves out-manoeuvred in intrigue by their quick-witted opponents, overconfident in the belief that they would see what was happening in advance, and not thinking it necessary to seize by force what could secure by policy, were the more easily destroyed because they were off their guard.”
On military miscalculations
“Their judgment was based more on wishful thinking that on a sound calculation of probabilities; for the usual thing among men is that when they want something they will, without any reflection, leave that to hope, while they will employ the full force of reason in rejecting what they find unpalatable.”
Battle speech from Brasidas on why you shouldn’t overestimate formidable looking but undisciplined enemies:
“As they fight in no sort of order, they have no sense of shame about giving up a position under pressure. To run forwards and to run backwards are equally honourable in their eyes, and so their courage can never really be tested… In fact, rather than meet you close fighting, they think it is safer to make you frightened and to run no risks themselves.”
“Success goes to the man who sees more clearly when the enemy is making mistakes like this and who, making the most of his own forces, does not attack on obvious and recognized lines, but in the way that best suits the actual situation.”
From the Melian dialogue
“Do not be led astray by a false sense of honour - a thing which often brings men to ruin when they are faced with an obvious danger that somehow affects their pride.”
On foreign policy
“In the future we are not making allies, as we have done in the past, of the kind of people who have to be helped by us in their misfortunes, but who can do nothing for us when we need help from them.”
On the invasion of Sicily
“It is at the beginning that every army inspires most fear; but if time is allowed to pass before it shows itself, men’s spirits revive and, when they actually do see it, they are less impressed than they would have been.”
“The surest way of harming an enemy is to find out certainly what form of attack he is most frightened of and then to employ it against him.”
Nicias writes back to Athens to get reinforcements:
“He was afraid that the messengers might not report the facts as they really were, either through lack of ability in speaking, or bad memory of a desire to say something which would please the general mass of opinion. He therefore wrote a letter.”
On the Corinthian victory at the Great Harbour:
“The Corinthians counted it a victory if they were not thoroughly defeated, and the Athenians considered it a defeat if they did not win easily.”
“Nicias, half-distraught by the present position, realising how much was at stake and how imminent already the hazard, and thinking, as men do think in moments of great crisis, that when everything has been done there is still something that needs doing, when everything has been said there is still something left unsaid.”
On the outcome of the Sicilian campaign:
“to the victors the most brilliant of successes, to the vanquished the most calamitous of defeats; for they were utterly and entirely defeated; their sufferings were on an enormous scale; their losses were, as they say, total; army, navy, everything was destroyed, and, out of many, only few returned. So ended the events in Sicily.”