{"id":53132,"date":"2016-10-19T04:52:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T04:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=53132"},"modified":"2016-10-26T20:20:21","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T20:20:21","slug":"thucydides-roundtable-book-i-fear-honor-and-ophelia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=53132","title":{"rendered":"Thucydides Roundtable, Book I: Fear, honor, and Ophelia"},"content":{"rendered":"

[by Lynn C. Rees]<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Fear, honor, and interest” is common shorthand for the political realism blamed on\u00a0Thucydides. It\u00a0appears twice in Book I,\u00a0first at\u00a01.75.3<\/a>\u00a0(in\u00a0Attic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Crawley’s<\/a>\u00a0English)\u2026<\/p>\n

ex autou de tou ergou cat\u00eanancasth\u00eamen to pr\u00f4ton proagagin aut\u00ean es t?de, malista men hypo deous, epita cae tim\u00eas, hysteron cae \u00f4phelias..<\/em><\/p>\n

And the nature of the case\u00a0first compelled us to advance our empire to its present height; fear\u00a0being our principal motive, though honor and interest afterwards\u00a0came in<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2026and second\u00a0at\u00a01.76.2<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

hout\u00f4s oud? h\u00eamis thaumaston ouden pepoe\u00eacamen oud? apo tou anthr\u00f4piou tr?pou, i arch\u00ean te didomen\u00ean edexametha cae taut\u00ean m\u00ea animen hypo tri\u00f4n t\u00f4n megist\u00f4n nic\u00eathentes, tim\u00eas cae deous cae \u00f4phelias<\/strong>, oud? au pr\u00f4toe tou toeoutou hyparxantes, all? aei cathest\u00f4tos ton h\u00eass\u00f4 hypo tou dynat\u00f4terou catirgesthae, axioe te hama nomizontes inae cae hymin docountes mechri hou ta xympheronta logiz?menoe t\u00f4i dicae\u00f4i l?g\u00f4i nyn chr\u00easthe, hon oudis p\u00f4 paratychon ischui ti ct\u00easasthae prothis tou m\u00ea pleon echin apetrapeto.<\/em><\/p>\n

It follows that it was not a very wonderful action, or contrary to the common practice of mankind, if we did accept an empire that was offered to us, and refused to give it up under the pressure of three of the strongest motives, fear, honor, and interest<\/strong>. And it was not we who set the example, for it has always been the law that the weaker should be subject to the stronger. Besides, we believed ourselves to be worthy of our position, and so you thought us till now, when calculations of interest have made you take up the cry of justice\u2014a consideration which no one ever yet brought forward to hinder his ambition when he had a chance of gaining anything by might.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s a trick found in the distance between 1.75.3 and 1.76.2. E. C. Marchant’s note on\u00a01.75.3 hints at its identity:<\/p>\n

28. d\u00e9ous<\/a><\/em>\u2014fear of the Persians. times<\/a><\/em>\u2014the honor enjoyed by Athens when she had once accepted the hegemon\u00eda<\/a><\/em>. \u00f3phelos<\/a><\/em> \u2014interest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 1.75.3, “fear, honor, and interest”\u00a0is\u00a0not an unchanging trinity of human neuroses outside of time but an\u00a0all too historically grounded\u00a0sequence of:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. fear:\u00a0<\/strong>(d\u00e9ous<\/em>) of\u00a0the Persian\u00a0threat triggered by\u00a0Athens renouncing its\u00a0508 BC submission\u00a0to Persia<\/a>, heightened by Athenian\u00a0participation\u00a0in the\u00a0sack<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Sardis<\/a>\u00a0in 498 BC, frustrated\u00a0in\u00a0490 BC<\/a>\u00a0at Marathon<\/a>, and realized in Xerxes<\/a>‘ 481 BC<\/a> sack<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Athens.<\/li>\n
  2. honor:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(times<\/em>)\u00a0from abandoning\u00a0Attica to Xerxes\u00a0in 480\u00a0BC for\u00a0the common defense, their role in winning at\u00a0Salamis<\/a>, re-abandoning Attica in 479 BC just before Plataea<\/a>, their victory at Mycale<\/a>\u00a0that same year, and their later leadership (hegemon\u00eda<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em>of resistance to Persia after Sparta went home, a role formalized in the Delian League<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. interest:<\/strong> (\u00f3phelos<\/em>) won by\u00a0the gradual shift\u00a0of the Delian League from a voluntary league\u00a0of military contingents led by Athens to a\u00a0prison\u00a0of disarmed and discontented assets\u00a0owned by Athens.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In 1.76.2, use of the catchphrase is closer in spirit to the use proposed by some\u00a0users (and even readers<\/i>) of the\u00a0History of the Peloponnesian War<\/em>s: a\u00a0fearsome threesome, forever hiding\u00a0behind every\u00a0good intent of the heart.<\/p>\n

    Internet sleuthing of the most amateur kind uncovers\u00a0other\u00a0English variations on the catchphrase:<\/p>\n