The Melian Dialogue
I was once asked to study and discuss the opposing views of Athens does Thucydides present in “Pericles’ Funeral Oration” and “The Melian Dialogue?” As I began to study the matter, I wondered why he presented such contrasting views. A focused reading of Thucydides’ “Pericles’ Funeral Oration” and “The Melian Dialogue” uncovers two obviously contrasting views of the ancient city of Athens. The former, being a funeral oration, depicted Athens as the model city-state, worthy of emulation, while the latter shows the less flattering picture of arrogant, Athenian military aggression.
I believe one of the keys to understanding this contrast lies in the following portion of the funeral oration:
“For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in his country’s battles should be as a cloak to cover a man’s other imperfections; since the good action has blotted out the bad, and his merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual.” (Thucydides 3)
Thucydides shows each side of the workings of this ‘cloak’ in these two pieces. As the fallen war heroes are eulogized before the city in “Pericles’ Funeral Oration”, their valiant actions, typical for any Athenian, are justified and extolled as he outlines the four ‘habits’ that have caused Athens to achieve and maintain such greatness. These habits, the young orator, Pericles, son of Xanthippus, rhetorically identifies as the cause of Athens’ success, “But what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of government under which our greatness …
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