Thucydides Mythistoricus (Routledge Revivals)

F. M. Cornford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317687511
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia antigua

First published in 1907 and reissued in 1965, this is a fascinating study of Thucydides's History. Thucydides set out to write a truthful account of the Pelopennesian war, but his work reflects his Athenian fourth-century B.C. context, which was of a particular interest to Cornford. In this fascinating title, Cornford analyses the causes of the war as shown by Thucydides and other sources, and then goes on to comment on the History.

CHAPTER XII EROS TYRANNUS

DOI: 10.4324/9781315775463-13

The Melian Dialogue, as we have already seen, suggested to an ancient critic the parallel between the imperial people and the Eastern monarch. Thucydides, by perpetual coincidences of thought and phrase, and by the turn and colour of all this part of his narrative, has with evident design emphasized this parallel, and so turned against Athens the tremendous moral which his countrymen delighted to read in the Persians of Aeschylus and the History of Herodotus. Looking back upon the development of the Empire in the previous fifty years, he saw, as we noted in our study of the first Book, the defection of Athens from the old, glorious ideal of the union of Hellas against the outer darkness of barbarism. The downward process led to this mad war of conquest between Greek and Greek. Athens, tempted by Fortune, deluded by Hope, and blinded by covetous Insolence, was attempting an enterprise comparable with that which it was her boast to have repulsed and broken at Salamis. In the debate upon the expedition we shall hear Nikias reiterate the warnings addressed in vain by Artabanus to the infatuate monarch, and Alcibiades echo the eager tones of Mardonius, who, ‘ever desirous of some new enterprise and wishing himself to be regent of Hellas, persuaded Xerxes.’¹

¹Herod, vii. 6 vϵωτέρων ἔργων ἐπιθυμητὴς ἐὼυ καὶ θέλων αὐτὸς τῆς ‘Eλλά ὕπαρχος εἵvαι … ἀvέπεισε Eέρξην.

‘Nikias, appointed against his will, saw that Athens was ill-advised and on a flimsy and fair-seeming pretext was bent on a great enterprise, desiring the whole of Sicily.’ He attempted to ‘avert’ their purpose,² with little hope of success, for he saw that the people were not in a mood to hear reason. ‘I have never,’ he said, ‘out of ambition spoken contrary to what I thought, nor will I now; but I will tell you what in my judgement is best. If I exhorted you to preserve what you have, instead of risking things present for the sake of things future and uncertain,³ my words would be powerless against a temper like yours. Yet I must show you that your haste is ill-timed and that the object for which you are so eager is not easy to grasp.’ The position of Athens at home is by no means secure. ‘We ought to think of this and not run into danger while the state is far from the desired haven, or grasp at a new empire before we have secured the old. Even if we conquer, we could hardly rule so many cities at such a distance. It is madness for men to attack a land which, if they prevail, they cannot hold, while failure would not leave them where they were before the attempt…. Because your first fears of Lacedaemon have not been realized and you have unexpectedly got the better of them, now you despise them and desire Sicily. You ought not to be elated at the chance mishaps of an enemy; conquer them in skill before you are confident.’⁴

²Thuc. vi. 8. 4 ἀποτρέψαι, ‘avert,’ has religious associations. It recalls the story of Artabanus who is threatened by the vision (Herod. vii. 17) in these terms, ‘Thou shalt not escape scatheless, either now or in the time to come, for seeking to avert that which must happen’ (ἀποτράπων τὸ χρεὸv γενέσθαι). Cassandra’s fate was partly a punishment for her attempts to avert by warnings the vengeance of God. No one would listen. Cf. Herod. ix. 16 ὅ τι δεῖ γεvέσθαι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀμήχανον ἀποτρέψαι ἀνθρώπῳ οὐδὲ γὰρ πιστὰ λέγονσι ἐθέλει πείθεσθαι οὐδείς. The word is still reminiscent of a belief that Ruin is an evil spirit to be charmed away by rites of magical ‘aversion’. ³vi. 9. 3 περὶ τῶν ἀφανῶν καὶ μελλόντων κινδυνεύειν, echoing the Athenians’ last words in the Melian dialogue (above, p. 185), τὰ μὲν μέλλοντα τῶν ὁρωμένων σαφέστερα κρίvετε, τὰ δὲ ἀφανῆ τῶ βούλϵσθαι ὡς γιγνόμενα ἤδη θεᾶσθε, κτλ. ⁴vi. 11. 5 διὰ τὸ παρὰ γνώμην αὐτῶν πρὸς ἂ ἐφοβεῖσθε τὸ νρῶτον περιγεγεvῆσθαι, καταφρονήσαντες ἤδη καὶ Σικελίας ἐφίεσθε. χρὴ δὲ μὴ πρὸς τὰς τύχας τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπαίρεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὰς διαvoίας κρατήσαντας θαρσεῖν. Compare the passage (iv. 65. 4) quoted above, p. 170, which connects the desire for Sicily with the fortune of Pylos, and ends: αἰτία δ’ ἤv ἡ παρὰ λόγov τῶν πλεόνων εὐπραγία αὐτοῖς ὑποτιθεῖσα lσχὺν τῆς ἐλπίδος.

‘If there is one who, in delight at his appointment, urges you to sail, looking only to his own interest; especially one who is too young as yet to hold a command, and wants to be admired for his stud of horses and to make something by his position to maintain him in his extravagance, do not indulge him with the opportunity to display his personal brilliance at Athens’ risk. Remember that such men, as well as spending their private substance, do public harm. This is a great enterprise and not one which a mere youth can plan and rashly undertake.⁵

⁵Compare the effect of this personal reference to Alcibiades with Artabanus’ concluding address to Mardonius, Herod, vii. 10. § 7.

‘There, beside the man of whom I speak, I see now men of this kind whom he has summoned to his support, and I am afraid. I appeal against them to you elder citizens; if any of you has one such sitting beside him, let him not be ashamed or fear to seem a coward if he does not vote for war. Do not, like them, fall sick of a fatal passion for what is beyond your reach.⁶ Bethink you that desire gains few successes, and forethought many.⁷ For your country’s sake, now on the brink of the greatest danger she has known, hold up your hands to vote against them. There is no fault to find with the boundaries which the Sicilians now observe in this direction—the Ionian Gulf on the coast voyage, and the Sicilian Ocean by the open sea. Confirm these limits by your vote, and leave Sicily to manage her own affairs’.…

⁶vi. 13. 1 μηδ’ ὅπϵρ ἂυ αὐτοὶ πάθοιεν, δvσέρωτας εῖυαι τῶv ἀπόvτωυ. ⁷Thuc. vi. 13 ἐπιθυμίᾳ μὲν ἐλάχιστα κατορθοῦνται, προνοίᾳ δὲ πλεῖστα. Herod. vii. 10, Artabanus says: ἐπειχθῆναι μὲν πᾶν πρῆγμα τίκτει σφάλματα … ἐν δὲ τῶ ὲπισχείν ἔνεστι ἀγαθά.

‘President, if you believe that the welfare of Athens is entrusted to you and you wish to be a good citizen, put the question over again and lay the proposal once more before the Athenians. If you hesitate to put a question already once decided, remember that with so many witnesses present there can be no question of breaking the law, and that you would be the physician of the state when her thoughts are sick. He proves himself a good magistrate who does all he can to help his country, or to the best of his will at least does her no harm.’

The speech is charged with allusions to themes which are now familiar to us. Only one or two call for comment. The reference to the natural boundary fixed by the Ionian and Sicilian seas is significant in the mouth of the pious Nikias. Some superstitious feeling still lingered about the impiety of crossing the far, inviolable seas.⁸ To pass the pillars of Heracles is to Pindar a symbol of ambition that outruns the limits of divine appointment. In this way Xerxes had offended: the bridge over the Hellespont and the canal at Athos⁹ had led his armament to the deep waters of Artemisium and Salamis. The sea too had risen, ‘not without Heaven’s wrath,’¹⁰ on his prototype, Agamemnon, returning, flown with insolence, from the conquest of the East. In the herald’s tremendous description of the storm we hear the rolling thunder of outraged gods, which we heard before in the Persians. It is echoed again by Poseidon himself in the prologue to the Trojan Women, which was performed within a month or two of Nikias’ speech:¹¹

⁸There seems to be some trace of this feeling in the anger of Poseidon at the nautical skill of the Phaeacians, Hom. Od. θ. 565; v. 162. It remains as a commonplace in Augustan poetry. Hor. Od. i. iii. 21:—

Nequidquam deus abscidit

prudens Oceano dissociabili

terras, si tarnen impiae

non tangenda rates transiliunt uada.

Plut. Nic. xii, describing this speech, says that Nikias ἀvαστὰς ἀπέτρεπε καὶ διεμαρτύρετο, καὶ τελεντῶν διέβαλε τὸν ’Aλκιβιάδην ἰδίων ἕvεκα κερδῶv καὶ φιλοτιμίας τὴν πόλιν εἰς χαλεπὸν ἐξωθεῖν καὶ διαπόντιον κίνδυνον.

⁹Herodotus (vii. 24) regards the making of the canal as unnecessary, and an exhibition of pride. ¹⁰Aesch. Agam. 654. ¹¹Eurip. Trojan Women 87. Mr. Gilbert Murray’s version.

These mine hands

Shall stir the waste Aegean; reefs that cross

The Delian pathways, jag-torn Myconos,

Scyros and Lemnos, yea, and storm-driven

Caphêreus with the bones of drownèd men

Shall glut him.—Go thy ways, and bid the Sire

Yield to thine hand the arrows of his fire.

Then wait thine hour, when the last ship shall wind

Her cable coil for home!

The warnings of Nikias fell, as he anticipated, upon deaf ears; for the thought of the city was sick and it was vain to call for a physician. The name of her sickness was Eros, the fatal, passionate lust for what is out of reach. She has caught the infection from the band of spendthrift youths, sitting there in the assembly at the summons of one who outshines them all. He, pleased with the command he is as yet too young to hold, nourishes hopes of new wealth to feed the stream of his extravagance; he is ambitious to display his brilliance at Athens’ risk, and he is hot for an enterprise too great for a mere youth to plan. And yet, is not the planning of great schemes the very office of Youth and ever-young Desire? When delusive Hope is busy flattering men with glimpses ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Title Page
• Series Page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Contents
• I Thucydides Historicus
• I The Causes of the War
• II Athenian Parties Before the War
• III The Megarian Decrees
• IV The Western Policy
• V Thucydides' Conception of History
• II Thucydides Mythicus
• Introduction
• VI The Luck of Pylos
• VII The Most Violent of the Citizens
• VIII Mythistoria and the Drama
• IX Peitho
• X The Melian Dialogue
• XI The Lion's Whelp
• XII Eros Tyrannus
• XIII The Tragic Passions
• XIV The Cause of the War
• Index