Melian dialogues

[Michael McIntyre]

Tain't Sparta - it's Syracuse that you need to look out for.  The little island of Melos never appears before this chapter and never appears again.  But guess what the Athenians try to do in the next chapter?  That's right, after telling the Melians "The strong do what they can and the weak do what they must," they set off to lay siege to Syracuse, just as they laid siege to Melos.  IR realists take this dictum from the Melian dialogue as a statement of fact; Thucydides seems to have taken it as an expression of hubris.

Michael McIntyre


>>> jkschw at hotmail.com 04/23/02 22:03 PM >>>
>>There's a great line in the Melian dialogue that goes (something like):
>>The powerful do to the weak what they choose to and can and the weak have
>>no choice but to accept this.
>
>OK. But let's remember that this line was spoken by the loser of the
>Peloponesian war: the "powerful" Athens.
>
>Joanna
>

Your point, J? Who is our Sparta? Last I heard they went down in 1989-91. 
jks

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