Debating the Powerful - Melian Dialogue
Thucydides – Reflective Post
For this post, I will build off of a question posed by Professor Jackson in class: Why do the Athenians debate the Melians to begin with if they are so powerful? Initially, Athens wanted to speak to the multitudes to invoke fear into them to join, but the Melians insisted upon the Athenians presenting their cause to a few. “So we are not to speak before the people, no doubt in case the mass of the people should hear once and for all and without interruption an argument from us which is both persuasive and incontrovertible, and should so be led astray” (401). The rulers of Melos knew what the Athenians wanted control over Melos, who were dead set against being slaves. “We see that you have come prepared to judge the argument yourselves, and that the likely end of it all will be either war, if we prove that we are in the right, and so refuse to surrender, or else slavery” (401). Perhaps they thought that they could rationalize with the great democracy of Athens. As for Athens, debating with the Melians was the most rational route to take in order to preserve a future tributary. The Melians ask the Athenians: “And how could it be just as good for us to be the slaves as for you to be the masters?” and the Athenian response is: “You, by giving in, would save yourselves from disaster; we, by not destroying you, would be able to profit from you” (402). Thus by destroying the Melians, the Athenians act out of passion and anger and against what is in their own interest. Melos was worth a lot more without everyone being slaughtered and the city destroyed. Acting out of passion and not using reason and rational, may be on account of the Athenian anger toward their own injustice. Perhaps the democratic society that Pericles had bolstered in his speech turned into something more ruthless then he could have imagined; and perhaps the Athenians realized that might was not always right.
For this post, I will build off of a question posed by Professor Jackson in class: Why do the Athenians debate the Melians to begin with if they are so powerful? Initially, Athens wanted to speak to the multitudes to invoke fear into them to join, but the Melians insisted upon the Athenians presenting their cause to a few. “So we are not to speak before the people, no doubt in case the mass of the people should hear once and for all and without interruption an argument from us which is both persuasive and incontrovertible, and should so be led astray” (401). The rulers of Melos knew what the Athenians wanted control over Melos, who were dead set against being slaves. “We see that you have come prepared to judge the argument yourselves, and that the likely end of it all will be either war, if we prove that we are in the right, and so refuse to surrender, or else slavery” (401). Perhaps they thought that they could rationalize with the great democracy of Athens. As for Athens, debating with the Melians was the most rational route to take in order to preserve a future tributary. The Melians ask the Athenians: “And how could it be just as good for us to be the slaves as for you to be the masters?” and the Athenian response is: “You, by giving in, would save yourselves from disaster; we, by not destroying you, would be able to profit from you” (402). Thus by destroying the Melians, the Athenians act out of passion and anger and against what is in their own interest. Melos was worth a lot more without everyone being slaughtered and the city destroyed. Acting out of passion and not using reason and rational, may be on account of the Athenian anger toward their own injustice. Perhaps the democratic society that Pericles had bolstered in his speech turned into something more ruthless then he could have imagined; and perhaps the Athenians realized that might was not always right.
posted by Holly at 10:25 PM
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