Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 War Materials and Their Glory in the Archaeology
- 2 Arms and Passion
- 3 The Athenian Acme in Book One of Thucydides
- 4 Pericles in History
- 5 Pericles and Athens
- 6 Thucydides and Pericles' Final Speeches
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index Locorum
5 - Pericles and Athens
Pericles' Speech in Indirect Discourse in Narrative Context
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 War Materials and Their Glory in the Archaeology
- 2 Arms and Passion
- 3 The Athenian Acme in Book One of Thucydides
- 4 Pericles in History
- 5 Pericles and Athens
- 6 Thucydides and Pericles' Final Speeches
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index Locorum
Summary
In his first speech, Pericles created oppositions between Athens' profitable and powerful sea empire and Spartan agricultural poverty. The opening narrative of book two offers a contrasting point of view. In the story of the defeat of the Theban invasion of Plataea, Thucydides opposes Pericles' disqualifications of landed ways with a detailed depiction of the formidable strengths of an agricultural community. Where Pericles had assessed the significance of a campaign according to the profit of money and territory it brought to the aggressor, the ineluctable consequences of this small event make it significant for Thucydides, for whom the profit of warfare is just one potentially problematic result among many of waging war on Greek neighbors.
This chapter will therefore begin by discussing the story of the Theban attack on Plataea. After this, it will briefly review Thucydides' account of the pan-Hellenic preparations for war (2.7–8), and take up Archidamus' address to the Peloponnesian captains before settling in to an analysis of Pericles' speech at 2.13. Pericles' speech in indirect discourse responds to Archidamus' speech in direct discourse: Archidamus is afraid that the Spartans' very large forces will cause overconfidence on campaign, and spends most of his speech arguing for restraint. Pericles does the opposite, cataloguing Athenian wealth with the aim of bolstering Athenian confidence. After discussing Pericles' speech in detail, the chapter will close with an analysis of Thucydides' contrasting history of Attica at 2.14–17.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Thucydides, Pericles, and Periclean Imperialism , pp. 151 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010