Brendan’s Reviews > The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War > Status Update
Brendan
is on page 233 of 713
“Indeed sensible men are prudent enough to treat their gains as precarious, just as they would also keep a clear head in adversity, and think that war, so far from staying within the limit to which a combatant may wish to confine it, will run the course that its chances prescribe; and thus, not being puffed up by confidence in military success, they are less likely to come to grief and most ready to make peace, if
— Mar 22, 2026 12:19PM
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Brendan’s Previous Updates
Brendan
is on page 369 of 713
“We should remember that we are only now enjoying some respite from a great pestilence and from war, to the no small benefit of our estates and persons, and that it is right to employ these at home on our own behalf, instead of using them on behalf of these exiles whose interest is to lie as well as they can, who do nothing but talk themselves and leave the danger to others,
— Apr 15, 2026 08:19PM
Brendan
is on page 352 of 713
So much of world history can be seen as an attempt to transcend the brutal terms of Athens as they prepared to crush Melos:
“…since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
International law, much of religion, philosophy, and diplomacy all seek to escape this ‘law of nature’
— Apr 01, 2026 08:47PM
“…since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
International law, much of religion, philosophy, and diplomacy all seek to escape this ‘law of nature’
Brendan
is on page 322 of 713
Feels familiar:
“[Sparta] had failed to get the treaty accepted by her Thracian allies or by the Boeotians or Corinthians, although she was continually promising to unite with Athens to compel their compliance if it were refused. [Sparta] also kept fixing a time at which those who still refused to join were to be declared enemies to both parties, but took care not to bind herself by any written agreement.”
— Mar 31, 2026 08:01PM
“[Sparta] had failed to get the treaty accepted by her Thracian allies or by the Boeotians or Corinthians, although she was continually promising to unite with Athens to compel their compliance if it were refused. [Sparta] also kept fixing a time at which those who still refused to join were to be declared enemies to both parties, but took care not to bind herself by any written agreement.”
Brendan
is on page 282 of 713
Thucydides identifies confirmation bias and motivated reasoning long before modern psychology:
“For it is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire.”
— Mar 25, 2026 08:32PM
“For it is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire.”
Brendan
is on page 258 of 713
“The present prosperity had persuaded the Athenians that nothing could withstand them, and that they could achieve what was possible and what was impracticable alike, with means ample or inadequate it mattered not. The reason for this was their general extraordinary success, which made them confuse their strength with their hopes.”
— Mar 24, 2026 07:50PM
Brendan
is on page 200 of 713
“The sufferings which revolution entailed upon the cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and always will occur as long as the nature of mankind remains the same… In peace and prosperity states and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants and so proves a rough master that
— Mar 16, 2026 09:01PM
Brendan
is on page 193 of 713
“Good deeds can be shortly stated, but where wrong is done a wealth of language is needed to veil its deformity.”
— Mar 16, 2026 08:35PM
Brendan
is on page 178 of 713
Cleon again:
“Great good fortune coming suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people insolent: in most cases it is safer for mankind to have success in reason than out of reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to stave off adversity than to preserve prosperity.”
— Mar 15, 2026 10:14AM
“Great good fortune coming suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people insolent: in most cases it is safer for mankind to have success in reason than out of reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to stave off adversity than to preserve prosperity.”
Brendan
is on page 176 of 713
From the speech of the demagogue Cleon:
“Bad laws which are never changed are better for a city than good ones that have no authority; unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than quick-witted insubordination; ordinary men usually manage public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every proposition brought forward, thinking that
— Mar 15, 2026 09:59AM
“Bad laws which are never changed are better for a city than good ones that have no authority; unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than quick-witted insubordination; ordinary men usually manage public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser than the laws, and to overrule every proposition brought forward, thinking that
Brendan
is on page 165 of 713
Words of the Mytilenian ambassador to Sparta seem apropos right now:
“It is not in Attica that the war will be decided, as some imagine, but in the countries by which Attica is supported; and the Athenian revenue is drawn from the allies, and will become still larger if they reduce us; as not only will no other state revolt, but our resources will be added to theirs”
— Mar 12, 2026 08:34PM
“It is not in Attica that the war will be decided, as some imagine, but in the countries by which Attica is supported; and the Athenian revenue is drawn from the allies, and will become still larger if they reduce us; as not only will no other state revolt, but our resources will be added to theirs”
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Mar 22, 2026 12:21PM
if they can, while their fortune lasts. This, Athenians, you have a good opportunity to do now with us, and thus to escape the possible disasters which may follow upon your refusal, and the consequent imputation of having owed to accident even your present advantages when you might have left behind you a reputation for power and wisdom which nothing could endanger.”
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“Indeed, if great enmities are ever to be really settled, we think it will be, not by the system of revenge and military success and by forcing an opponent to swear to a treaty to his disadvantage; but when the more fortunate combatant waives his privileges and, guided by gentler feelings, conquers his rival in generosity and accords peace on more moderate conditions than expected.”
One of the great themes of Thucydides, more salient than ever right now, is the tendency of success (often accidental or lucky) to induce overconfidence within an imperial power, which is then tempted toward overreach and ruin. He is very explicit in warning about demagogues who will use these victories and the greed of the common people to reject even generous peace terms in hopes of greater gain and self-promotion, which is exactly what happens after the Spartan attempt to craft a peace treaty quoted above. The greedy and charismatic Athenian demagogue Cleon feels, uh…familiar
One effect of reading this is to destroy the popular mystique of the Spartans. The Athenians were far stronger in terms of both military and economy — but their arrogance and imperial overreach ultimately provoked their downfall.
