“Death thus raged in every shape; and, as usually happens at such times, there is no length to which violence did not go…” This sentence encapsulates Thucydides’ theories on revolution. The whole Hellenic world was doomed to be consumed by its unrestrained ravaging as a direct result of Athens’s folly. Although the entire Hellenic world was consumed by revolution at least at one point during the given period, Thucydides only gives the first occurrence of revolution in the Peloponnesian War a thorough examination. The significance of revolution is revealed by analyzing the separate writing components and themes of Thucydides’ passage concerning the Corcyran Revolution and comparing them with those of the rest of the book.

The Peloponnesian War was in its fifth year when Corcyraean oligarchs massacred Peithias and sixty members of his party. The conspirators justified this bloodshed with the explanation of Peithias’s betrayal of Corcycra. Peithias, who opposed neutrality and wished to serve Athens, had attempted to persecute his political opponents. In failing to do so, those he betrayed launched themselves at him and his companions (the head of the democratic faction in Corcyra) and revenge was answered by revenge. Then the conspirators called for an assembly among all the citizens, and the city-state was declared neutral. However, the betrayal had spread the seed of suspicion and when a Corinthian trireme arrived with Spartan envoys, the leaders of Corcyra attack those incorporated with the Democratic Party with allegiance with Athens, referred to by Thucydides as “The People”. The Corcyran oligarchs were able to defeat The People in the first battle of the revolution; however, the stage was set for the next, more decisive battle when The

People retreated to the higher ground of the Acropolis, and the oligarchs settled in the agora.

After a day filled with minor skirmishes, The People received the support of a majority of the slaves and were reinforced by eight hundred mercenaries. Once the second battle commenced, the supporters of the democratic party were named the victors of the day. The original instigators found themselves with the tables turned and were now in the hands of their own betrayed victims. This passage is one of the many areas through out The Peloponnesian War which Thucydides compels his reader to contemplate the many aspects of human nature. Here he explores how greed and ambition repeatedly turn the inhabitants of Corcyra against one another. The victors of this last battle desired to deliver an even more devastating blow to their opponents. The members of The People asked the Athenian general, Nicostratus, to leave five hundred of his men there and they would replace his Athenian soldiers with five hundred Corcyraeans. This would ensure the defeated remained compliant. However The People’s agenda was revealed when they demanded that their betrayers be the men to serve on the Athenian ships heading to Athens. Now a new wave of revenge, greed, and betrayal ravaged the citizens yet again.

The chaos enshrouding the city-state was transferred to their military too; the Corcyaean soldiers were easily defeated in the naval encounter with Sparta. This induced enough fear into the supporters of The People to call for an effort to save the city and arrange a parley with their captives. However, when the Peloponnesians failed to exploit their victory, and news arrived of a large Athenian fleet approaching, peace gave way to greed and ambition, yet again. For seven days the citizens of Corcyra slew their foes, “and although the crime imputed was that of attempting to put down the democracy, some were slain also for private hatred, others by their debtors because of the moneys owed to them.” Those who knew their death was eminent took their own lives. Not only did the path of suicide avoid the promised torture yet to come, but also outraged their enemies who were seeking revenge.

What causes a human being to perform such audacities? Thucydides primarily attributed it to greed and ambition, given the correct circumstances, “… [It] was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions preceded the violence of parties once engaged in contention.” He also included an elaborate examination on the evils which revolution necessitates. The war between Athens and Sparta had placed the Hellenic world on the slippery slope of revolution. Now any faction with rebellion on the mind could call upon the corresponding military alliance, develop a convincing argument, and wait for a coup to ensue.

While Thucydides prepared to elaborate on the sufferings inflicted on a population by revolution, he offered a proviso of sorts: “such as have occurred and always will occur as long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a severer or milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the variety of the particular cases.” Observations on the nature of mankind and the nature of events can be found throughout Thucydides’s work, such as the above excerpt. In the opening pages, Thucydides explained his purposes in writing such an elaborate work, the likes of which had not been seen in the world as of yet. One of his purposes was to provide a record which could be drawn upon for guidance for future generations. A couple of millennia have passed and the great minds of the future still have yet to guide the human race away from events and sufferings caused by the flaws of human nature.

An odd social phenomenon occurs in the presence of revolutions. The accepted behavior of the human character undergoes a transformation and actions attributed to evil, which in times of peace are socially unacceptable, are received and even viewed as strength. “Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal supporter… Frantic violence became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting a justifiable means of self-defense.” Although Greece was an ancient civilization, many of its morals were similar to modern morals (just without the Christian undertones); however, these morals are the first thing compromised in the presence of a revolution. In a revolution, one is pitted against his neighbor, brother, and father, “until even blood became a weaker tie than party.” Another revelation is how the concept of self preservation is overpowered by an element as petty as revenge.

The writing elements of this section are distinct from the remainder of the book. The majority of the Peloponnesian War has a distinct structure; primarily it is written in a chronological narrative. Scattered throughout the work are long speeches given by the primary role players of each of the events. These speeches are Thucydides’ equivalent to modern sources. The ancient scholars realized the importance of the burden of proof. However, there are no speeches concerning revolution. Either Thucydides had not been able to obtain a personal account of the events in Corcyra, which is understandable since many casualties befell the majority of the population; or perhaps he felt his theoretical analysis was a more appropriate method. He approaches the plague in the same fashion.

Many parallels can be drawn between the episodes of the plague and of the revolution. As explained, their structure is very comparable, but the language used in the two excerpts is also very similar. When compared side by side, terms like “symptoms,” are used to signal the reader to what they should keep an eye on in their own era. However, knowledge is not so contagious. There have been numerous occasions of plague and revolution leading to famine and pestilence throughout history. If Thucydides wrote the solution for evading these horrors then the lessons still have not been absorbed.

Another paralleling characteristic of the section about the plague and that of the revolution is the similarity of their writing style. The majority of Thucydides’s work is written in a very straight forward manner, with few descriptive passages. However in the two passages, he goes to great lengths to impress upon his audience all the evils attributed to these events. Everything is turned upside down during the civil strife of a revolution. The traditional morals and values upheld by society, qualities such as compassion, loyalty, rational thinking, were now seen as weakness and betrayal. In the middle of this chaos, the strong and favorable temptations of greed and ambition for money and power enticed the inhabitants of Corcyra to turn against one another. Corcyra had several opportunities to make a lasting peace, however the suspicions of its citizens were overwhelming. “Oaths of reconciliation being only offered on either side to meet an immediate difficulty, only held good so long as no other weapon was at hand; but when opportunity arose, he who first ventured to seize it and take his enemy off his guard…”

This leads to the question, why does Thucydides only discuss the first revolution and the first plague? The whole Hellenic world revolted against the established government at one point in the war, so why was not each revolution significant enough to be described? He attributed the plague to have surfaced in Egypt before ravaging Athens; however he does not elaborate on the spread to the remainder of the Hellenic world. Also he only mentions the second plague that ravaged Athens in passing. Perhaps his revelations from studying the first two occurrences resulted on such a dismal note, death, and he no longer desired to rationalize on the matters any further.

The theme and the lesson that Thucydides desires to pass onto his reader are the same: Revolution induces men to turn on their brothers, fathers, and neighbors; human characteristics morph in ways which embrace the evils induced by revolution. The significance of this subject is personified in Thucydides’ use of the writing elements of style, language, and structure. These elements are used in a similar way as the passage concerning the plague; however, they contrast sharply with the remaining of the text. This could be viewed as a form of symbolism: revolution alters human nature so deeply that even Thucydides was compelled to alter his writing to further impress upon his reader to proceed with caution when in the midst of revolution.