The Debate that Lead to the Pelloponesian War
How does the section of Thucydides narrative about the debate at Sparta and the declaration of war show the Spartans as being unwilling to enter into a war with Athens?Thucydides is thought by some to be the true father of history; most historians before him, such as Herodotus, could be more accurately described as storytellers who were more interested in romantic sideline stories, that could be fact of fiction, than in giving an accurate and unbiased account of events. Thucydides himself writes, "My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last forever." He is said to have had a passion for accuracy and contempt for myth and romance. However, it is vital to take into account when reading Thucydides narrative of the Peloponnesian war the fact that Thucydides himself was an Athenian and more than this a general in the early stages of the very war he concerns himself about. It is not unlikely that because of this his writing would show some bias against Sparta, however unintentional this may be. We might expect him to portray Sparta as the instigators of war but throughout this part of the narrative we are constantly given hints and references to Sparta's unwillingness to
You could argue that they had no choice. Thucydides gives us the speeches made by the Corinthian delegates, delegates from Athens who happened to be in the city on other business, the Spartan king Archidamus and the Spartan ephor Sthenelaidus. The section begins not as you might expect by discussing the relationship between Athens and Sparta, but Athens and Corinth. " These are accusations, presented as faults. All this shows that the ties between Sparta and her allies are not very strong and the Spartans could not be blamed for not wanting to engage in a war against and empire that has shown no aggression to Sparta herself, only to her allies. The Corinthian speech shows us that the Spartans have in the past shown themselves to be a cautious people, slow to anger and slow to action. It would be fair to say that at this point the Athenians are pressuring the Spartans into declaring war by causing trouble among her allies causing them to accuse her of breaking the treaty and petition Sparta to declare war. This tells us little about their attitude to war, but what they don't say speaks volumes: They imply that the aim of their speech is to dissuade Sparta from declaring war, yet they make no attempt to deny any of the accusations against them and they give no implication that their aggressive behaviour is going to cease. It also shows that the Spartans are seemingly willing to abide by the terms of the treaty and live in peace with the Athenians; they have not broken the treaty. "You did not call together this meeting of allies until the damage was done. In the Athenians speech we can understand why the Spartans might have little choice but to go to war, whether they like it or not. The Corinthian delegate was the first to speak. You think that any movement will endanger what you already have. The next to speak are the Athenian delegates.
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