| This study attempts to understand Thucydides' explanation for Athens' rise and fall by focusing on his treatment of Athenian democracy and Athenian empire from antiquity to the close of the Peloponnesian War. That treatment sheds light on the problematic relationship between democracy and empire at all times and in all places. Thucydides teaches that the Athenians' unique ability to live lives at once liberal, lawful, vigorous, and far-sighted allowed the development of Athenian democracy, and prepared the way for the expansion of Athenian power. Thucydides shows that Pericles was Athens' greatest leader because he drew upon and fostered Athens' exceptional qualities. The most remarkable of these was the blending of usually incompatible elements, such as public spiritedness and private pursuits. However after Pericles' death, the Athenians lost those qualities. Hence they lost their democracy and empire as well. Following the example of the most influential of Pericles' successors, Cleon, Nicias, and Alcibiades, the Athenians abused their empire and their democracy for private gain. They disregarded his military instruction that they wait quietly, pay attention to their marine, attempt no new conquests, and expose the city to no new hazards. At the same time they disregarded his admonition that they practice democracy as citizens of the School of Hellas---i.e. openly, civilly, confidently, and wisely. Pericles' brilliant balancing act, enshrined in the funeral oration, enabled Athens for a moment. Its survival, in the form of communicable understanding, is the work of Thucydides' art. The effect of any human action upon events in this world is inherently limited. Nations change and die. But understanding survives. In other words, this dissertation concludes that once Athenian exceptionalism had been lost, its only significance is in the transmission of Thucydides' liberal, lawful, vigorous, and far-sighted History of the Peloponnesian War, "a possession for all time."... |
