The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides - 6 - Athens Invades Sicily
Book Six
Quote
"[The war] against the Persians was not, then, the Athenians fighting for Greek freedom, nor the Greeks fighting for their own: the Athenians were looking to replace Persian enslavement with theirs, and the Greeks to make a change of slave-master — to one just as clever, but clever for the worse."
Notes
With the soft peace treaty with Sparta in place, Athens decides to start a new war on Sicily. They have a few allies there, the Egestans in particular, who promise to help fund their efforts, and they believe this new expedition will help strengthen their empire.
Nicias is chosen as one of the commanders to lead, but he is actually against the idea. He gives a speech saying that Sicily doesn't have anything to do with them, and the war with Sparta isn't really over yet. He adds his suspicion that people who want this war, people like Alcibiades, see it as an opportunity for their own personal ambition, not for the greater good of Athens.
Alcibiades speaks in his defense, and in defense of the expedition: "Given the position we have reached, we have no choice but to keep hold of our present subjects and lay designs on more, because there is the danger that, if we do not rule others, others will rule us."
The back and forth continues, but Athens is set on supporting this new war, including the massive amount of supplies and resources it will require. With the pause in the war against Sparta, and with the plague now mostly in the past, they've recovered a lot of their strength back.
Before they set out, a bunch of religious statues and icons are defaced, which seems like a strange omen over their decision. This causes some infighting and conspiring. Some people think Alcibiades is to blame. But the trial against him is put off until after the expedition, and so Alcibiades safely avoids the conflict for the time being.
The Syracusans, on the island of Sicily, call an assembly to discuss reports of the incoming invasion. Some try to give warning and call for rallying together a strong defense. Since Athens themselves rose to greatness by standing up to the Persians, maybe this is their opportunity to rise and become great by standing up to Athens! Others don't believe the reports and see those raising alarm as being opportunistic and self-interested. Still the generals do decide to prepare some basic defensive measures. There's no harm in being safe.
The Athenians arrive in Sicily and meet up with the Egestans who had promised them support, but it turns out they were lying and they have barely any money to give them (Nicias, to his credit, suspected this was the case). This is a bit of a setback for Athens since they were counting on more. They sail their ships around Sicily without much success or clarity about what they're doing. Then the people back home call for them to return to Athens. More charges have been raised against Alcibiades and fears are growing that he's become a tyrant. Since Athens has a history of tyranny in their past, this is causing them more than a little anxiety. So Alcibiades runs away.
With all that going on, the Athenians do still prepare for an attack against Syracuse. The Syracusans actually feel pretty confident since Athens hasn't really done anything yet for all the time they've been here so far. A major battle breaks out but with no clear winner. They pause for the winter.
During the pause, Syracuse goes to the neighbouring city of Camarina to try and persuade them to join their side. They argue that Athens is an evil empire, just like Persia was before. And, like the Greeks had done in the Persian wars, the Sicilians need to unite against the invading Athenians.
An Athenian envoy is there for the debate and gives his defense of Athens. He says that Athens has earned its empire legitimately, and they treat their allies well. Syracuse is the real enemy, they say.
Camarina ultimately wants to stay out of it. They decide to remain neutral. Syracuse then sends for help from the Spartans to try and get them involved.
Meanwhile, Alcibiades is also in Sparta, having fled from the Athenians. As far as he's concerned, his enemies in Athens have taken over, and he needs to take Athens back even if that means getting Sparta's help to do it. He explains his situation to them and offers to help them: "I do not think of myself as attacking my own country — what is there now is no longer mine — so much as reclaiming my country as it once was. The true patriot unjustly robbed of his country does not hesitate to attack it, but his very love for it makes him seek any means of recovering it."
Fighting continues all over. Athens starts making headway against Syracuse. Back in Greece, they also help in defending Argos from Sparta's attack there, which technically violates the current peace treaty with the Spartans.
Key Takeaways
Why is Athens invading Sicily in the middle of the Peloponnesian War? Thucydides is pretty clear right in the beginning of Book Six how foolish this decision is: "Most Athenians were ignorant of the extent of the island and the size of its population, both Greek and barbarian, and had no idea that they were undertaking a war almost as formidable as their war against the Peloponnesians." And Nicias warns them how vulnerable this war could make them if Sparta sees they're being weakened by it.
It's hard to have an appreciation for what it must be like to run an empire at the height of regional power. One senses a kind of fear or paranoia, just beneath the surface, about holding onto power and not losing it to anyone else. Alcibiades even says, "if we do not rule others, others will rule us." Power is a zero-sum game. If you're not gaining, you're losing.
Notice the influence history has over the rhetoric and the imagination of the Greeks in this war. We read history to understand the present and to provide evidence in favour of a point of view. The Syracusans, for example, look at the history of the Persian Wars and use it to inform the possibility of them becoming a great power if they stand up against the invading Athenians, just like the Greeks (including Athens) had done against the invading Persians.
Memories from history can also have a PTSD-like effect, fueling an outsized reaction in an effort to prevent what happened before. Athens has a history of tyranny which seems to trigger some paranoia about Alcibiades becoming a tyrant. Many are arrested and killed in an effort to root out the alleged "tryannical conspiracy."
Interesting to notice these examples of the way that history is used, and the influence that it can have.