Thucydides The Peloponnesian War

Public versus Private, and the impact to the war Thucydides, the author of The Peloponnesian War, differentiates itself from any of the former literature to not give heroic contents, but to analyze the content of the war between the Hellas. One of the greatest morale that he gives through the analysis is the separation of the public and private interests during a political project: in order to achieve the good of the city, the priorities must be set on the what is best for the many, rather than on private interests that benefits only a few, such as, but not limited to, preeminence, popularity, vengeance, and greed. The separation of public matters and private matters are exemplified by Pericles, who led the earlier part of the war, and destroyed

All of those advices taken together, he suggests to put great emphasis on the strong spots of the city, rather than the weak spots, in order to maximize the efficiency during the biggest war Athenians are to go through. In order to follow his principles, he sometimes compromise democracy, shown in the inaction to call neither an assembly nor military discussions during the first invasion by the Spartans (Thuc., 2.22). Through such inaction, however, he prohibits the passion and emotions to take over. Through sticking to his principles, Pericles stopped the private interest from allowing the citizens and ancestors of the city to lose everything they built as a

Alcibiades is restrained from participating in the Sicilian conquest from the beginning (6.89), and exiles to Sparta. He furiously expresses his desire to take revenge against the Athenians because the people unjustly treated him (Thuc., 6.92). He leaks any available information to the Spartans, in exchange of his personal interest of making the city suffer (fury; Thuc., 6.89-92)). He made his passion to overtake him, since passions of his enemies mistreated him. Spartans, despite not fully believing Alcibiades, take the opportunity to significantly weaken the