Ah Thucydides…..
Verse three
Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden
Thucydides is a figure of history that I would go out of my way to meet. I’d give much to speak with him now. The Athenian general commanded a squadron of seven trireme’s, ultra fast war ships. Along with his fellow Athenians Thucydides fulfilled his role in the war with Sparta. The Peloponnesian war was a war of empire, lasting twenty seven years. Chosen commander by the Athenian assembly, Thucydides failed at his mission to protect Amphipolis. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was exiled 20 years for his trouble.
Thucydides set out from the harbor at Athens, on a wine dark sea, the outcome of his mission unknowable. I sit here in the corner of a Starbucks; it’s minus 3 degrees outside; the city of Aleppo is a heap of funerary rubble. In a few days a reality TV celebrity, and casino mogul will be inaugurated President of our “great republic.” I will play my part to the best of my ability,–the outcome unknowable.
