Sublime

Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War

Vel iniquissiman pacem iustissimo bello anteferrem.

There was no rest for the weary in the wake of the Persian-Greek Wars. Just years after the end of those long wars, Athens and Sparta entered into the Peloponnesian Wars, 431–404 BCE, which led to the downfall of the Athenian Republic. Aside from giving us the second great book of Western history, Thucydides’ Peloponnesian Wars, the defeat of Athen

As Aeschylus, the illustrious Greek tragedian, noted in the fifth century B.C., “In war, truth is the first casualty.”

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.

This war represents a general effort which the Greeks made to establish everywhere a single constitution with the hegemony of a city; but a part desired an aristocracy under the protection of Sparta, while others favored a democracy with the support of Athens. It was the same in Philip's time. The aristocratic party, in all the cities, desired the

On War created a rational model for understanding war, and it is still the dominant military theory today. Its most important maxim is that “war is the continuation of policy by other means.”[23] This implies that war is not an emotional outbreak, a heroic adventure, or a divine punishment. War is not even a military phenomenon. Rather, war is a po

Socrates lived a remarkable life. He also died a remarkable death: He had been tried for corrupting the youth of Athens and other alleged misdeeds, found guilty by his fellow citizens, and sentenced to die by drinking poison hemlock. He could have avoided this punishment by throwing himself on the mercy of the court or by running away after the sen