And it may well be that my history will seem less easy to read because of the
absence in it of a romantic element [to mythodes: perhaps he has Herodotus in
mind here]. It will be enough for me, however, if these words of mine are judged
useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the
past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in
much the same way, be repeated in the future. My work is not a piece of writing
designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever.
(1, 22)He therefore writes with the lessons of history in mind, hoping to provide a useful
education in political behaviour in the belief not so much that history repeats itself as
that human nature always remains the same. A notable example of this tendency is
seen in the way he uses an extended analysis of civil war, or party strife, or faction,
all of which are contained in the Greek word stasis, prompted by the revolution in
Corcyra, to bring out the general demoralization of human behaviour under the stress
of war. His account, which extends over several chapters, begins as follows:
In the various cities these revolutions were the cause of many calamities – as
happens and always will happen while human nature is what it is, though there may
be different degrees of savagery, and, as different circumstances arise, the general
rules will admit of some variety. In times of peace and prosperity cities and
individuals alike follow higher standards, because they are not forced into a
situation where they have to do what they do not want to do. But war is a stern
teacher; in depriving them of the power of easily satisfying their daily wants, it
brings most people’s minds down to the level of their actual circumstances.
(3, 82–85)There is every reason to believe that he would have disagreed with the later
formulation of the philosopher Aristotle on the difference between poetry and history:
.. .the one tells of what has happened, the other of the kind of things that might
happen. For this reason poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy
of serious attention than history: for while poetry is concerned with universal truths,
history treats only particular facts.
(Poetics, 9)
Thucydides tells us what happened in such a way that we may see what might happen
in the future given the human condition.
It is in the light of this that we may interpret the seemingly unscientific practice
that he shares with Herodotus in the composition of his speeches:
HISTORY 41