Thucydides and Emotional Incitement to War (original) (raw)

Thucydides' 'History of the Peloponnesian War' contains a large number of deliberative speeches, many of substantial length, in which emotional arguments are made in some detail (in contrast to other Classical period historiographers, whose speeches are more commonly reported in précis). These speeches are of two types: those delivered within a polis by a citizen of that state; and those delivered by inter-polis envoys. Speeches inciting war are also of two types: those proposing starting, and those proposing continuing, to fight. The emotional requirements of such speeches differ by a variety of factors, such as: the city being addressed, which Thucydides can portray as being more open to certain emotions than others; the hierarchically subordinate or superior position of the polis whose envoy is speaking; the state of the war; the polis’s economic or military strength and stability; its martial history; its diplomatic vulnerability; and more psychological factors (e.g. continued success creating overconfidence; a concatenation of disasters breeding despair). This paper explores such issues, and proposes a framework for understanding why certain emotions are chosen in particular circumstances, and the varying arguments by which they are aroused.

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