The Thoughts of Thucydides

Katie Taylor

AHW Period 6

February 9, 2014

                                                       The Thoughts of Thucydidies                   

Greece was one of history's most accomplished civilizations and will undoubtedly always be remembered for its great accomplishments. The greatness of the Athenians derived from many reasons according to Pericles. In the Funeral Oration, Thucydides records the words of Pericles explaining the reasons why Athens and its people were great. In his later works "The Plague" and "Civil War at Corcyra," however, Thucydides describes in detail the people of Athens as being selfish, unkind, not following the laws and spending money without a care, which contradicts his previous description and sheds a new light on the distinct characteristics of human nature.

In the Funeral Oration, Pericles boasts of how Athenians follow the laws to the letter not only because they are required to but also because they follow a moral code and are good, kind people who expect nothing in return. Pericles strongly states that "we keep the law" (Thucydides, page 145, section 37, lines), and he goes as far as saying "we obey the laws themselves, especially those which are for the protection of the oppressed, and those unwritten laws which it is an acknowledged shame to break" (Thucydides, page 145, section 37, lines 19-21), implying that the Athenians are people of strong morals. Thucydides later refutes Pericles' point, however, when he writes The Plague. With the disorganization and fear created by the plague, the people "not knowing what would happen next to them, became indifferent to every rule of religion or of law"(Thucydides, page 155, section 52, lines 11-12) exposing humans' true nature of selfishness. Thucydides writes that "As for what is called honour, no one showed himself willing to abide by its laws" (Thucydides, page 155, section 53, lines 9-10) when before he wrote that the Athenians followed even the unenforced laws in order to abide by their moral code. It is a part of human nature not to abide by laws, so when the restraints of society are loosened by isolation caused by the plague, the laws were nearly all forgotten. The clear willingness of the Athenians to follow the laws was only true during good times, but that wasn't the only acclaimed Athenian quality that was not as prevalent in Athens as Pericles claimed. 

In addition to the laws of Athens not actually being followed to the letter like Pericles claimed, Thucydides also reports that according to Pericles the Athenians "regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about" (Thucydides, page 147, section 40, lines 2-4). These strong ethics pertaining to wealth were not demonstrated during the plague at all, however.  During the plague people spent money like never before. With all the death throughout the city, money was changing hands via inheritance every day and once the people realized this "they resolved to spend their money quickly and to spend it on pleasure," (Thucydides, page 155, section 53, lines 7-9) which plays into the vile and greedy nature of humans. The plague obviously had an effect on peoples' health and also on the way they acted. During the plague people were surrounded by death and overwhelmed with the constant reminder of their own mortality, driving them to care less about what was socially acceptable and morally right and instead more about their own selfish desires. 

 

Not only were the Athenians greedy in times of hardship, but these times caused them to lose their moral compass and sense of what was right and wrong. The Funeral Oration mentions several times how Athens was not only great because of its outstanding government and laws but also because the Athenians were people of exceptional morals. Pericles claimed that the way the Athenians treated each other was something to be proud of. He boasted of how Athenians "make friends by doing good to others not by receiving good" ( Thucydides, page 147, section 40, lines 24-25) and they did kindness to others not for ulterior motives or to get something in return. However, contradictory to how Pericles described the Athenian people in both the Civil War and during The Plague, there was very little kindness shown at all. In fact, people were downright barbaric. Throughout the Civil War "there were fathers who killed their own sons; men were dragged from the temples" and "some were actually walled up in the temple of Dionysus" (Thucydides, page 241, section 81, lines 26-27) and heartlessly left there to die. The peoples' behavior during the plague was unfortunately not much better. When people were sick their own family often deserted them and many of the sick "died with no one to look after them"() In these times of hardship, the kindness that Pericles talked of completely vanished and exposed an underlying nature of selfishness, amoral behavior, and violence.

In "The Plague" and "Civil War at Corcyra," Thucydides describes in detail the people of Athens as being selfish, unkind, not following the laws and spending money without a care, which contradicts Pericles's previous description in "The Funeral Oration" recorded by Thucydidies and sheds a new light on the distinct characteristics of human nature. Throughout "The Funeral Oration" Pericles boast of his peoples' willingness to follow the laws, their proper use of wealth, and their outstanding morals, but Thucydies later refutes these points proving that there really is no perfect person or city. People may follow higher moral standards during times of peace and prosperity but when disasters such as war or plague wreak havoc on a city, the true barbaric nature of humanity is often exposed. Unfortunately even with the passing of almost 2,500 years the nature of humans remains the same and examples of this lay all around us. One of the most applicable examples is that of the LA Riots of 1992. After the acquittal of several police officers in a trial regarding racism and police brutality, LA was plagued by one of the largest riots in history. At first it started out relatively small with a only few broken windows, but soon it all snowballed. Total chaos was released on the city. Unable to keep a handle on the thousands of rioters, the police quickly lost control of the situation. Then people who would not have otherwise have been involved in such riots begun to take the riot as a chance to get away with crime. Laws and morals completely vanished for a large majority of the Los Angeles population and it became every man for himself. There were cars lit on fire, countless robberies, beatings and even murder throughout those four days, resulting in 58 deaths and over 2,000 injuries to the general public. Much like Athens over 2,000 years beforehand, people's barbaric nature was exposed by disaster and today even in your own town this aspect of all humans is only hiding in some more deeply than others but nevertheless it waits for the next event to allow its exposure. 

 Crazy Gun Fights LA Riot 

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Work Cited

 

Books:

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Rex Warner-Translator ed. New York: Penguin, 

          1972. Print.

Photos: 

Pericles Funeral Oration. N.d. Photograph. CreatingHistory. 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Pyrrhus' Siege. Photograph. History of Sparta. Wikipedia, 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

N.d. Photograph. Energy Conservation. Casei, 12 June 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

The LA Riots. N.d. Photograph. LA. Photography. 2 Nov. 1998. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Video: 

Dustin Edward. “Crazy Gun Fight in the Streets of LA- Korean Merchants vs. Criminals (1992 LA riots).” Online Video 

YouTube. YouTube, January 30, 2013. Web. February 9, 2014.