The ancient Greek historians (Harvard lectures) by J. B. Bury.

116 ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIANS LECT.

rebels of Mytilene was in accordance with the
spirit of Periclean policy. With the spirit; but
it might have been argued that it was not in
accordance with the letter and the logic; and
this, I think, is one of the points which Cleon's
speech is intended to suggest. It is notable that
while the speaker makes, as I think, an oblique
hit at Periclean idealism, and strikes an antiPericlean note in his dispraise of knowledge and
criticism, at the same time he iterates phrases
which occur in the Periclean speeches: "Empire
means tyranny"; "Do not play the virtuous."
Thucydides is here studying not only the contrast
between the two politicians, but also the difficulties
inherent in the Periclean imperialism.
~ 2. Dramatic treatment of the historiae personae
The speeches in general served two purposes.
In the first place they were used by the author
to explain the facts and elements of a situation,
as well as underlying motives and ideas. In some
cases the speech was only a dramatic disguise of
a study of his own. Thus, the characters of the
two protagonist cities, Athens and Sparta, are
delineated in a speech of a third party, the Corinthians: the author of this famous comparison was
unquestionably Thucydides himself. But in other
cases he uses the actual expositions of politicians,genuine political documents so far as the main
tenor went,-as the most useful means of explaining