The past few years have been a fertile time for new commentaries to Thucydides, and Christopher Pelling’s two-volume treatment of Books Six and Seven for the Cambridge Green and Yellow series is a remarkable contribution to this trend. Books Six and Seven contain some of the purplest passages of Thucydides, and Pelling does them justice. In these commentaries, Pelling shows the reader the passion in an author who has often been characterized as dispassionate, taking literary questions as fundamental to understanding the text. Thucydides has also been due for a reworking with updated bibliography and new tools such as the Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek, while Pelling’s assistance with language and grammar will render the text more accessible to many.
There is repetition between the Introductions of the two books, though each is also nicely tailored to its own volume.
Among the other recent commentaries on Thucydides is Martha Taylor’s on the Melian Dialogue and Books Six and Seven (2019, University of Oklahoma Press). While Taylor aims primarily to help students grappling with translation, Pelling attempts a more holistic approach. Unlike Taylor, Pelling does not include the Melian Dialogue in his commentary, but he treats it as integral to these Books in his Introduction to Book Six, where he compellingly argues that false hope and excessive fear link the Melian Dialogue and the Sicilian Expedition (Book Six, 17-22).
The Introductions serve as warm and erudite welcomes into a text often represented as cold and formidable. They offer a vivid image of what the emotional atmosphere in Athens prior to and during the Sicilian Expedition may have been, explore the question of performance context, list minor variations from the Alberti Manuscript, and establish Pelling’s general approach to the text, including his interpretation of Thucydides’ understanding of the unfolding of historical events. Pelling discourages a view of Thucydides’ judgements as either black or white. For example, he rightly sees nuance in the verdict on Nicias, whose actions are not always admirable but who is nonetheless honored with his famous epitaph (7.86.5, Book Seven, 26-32). Nuance is similarly key to Pelling’s reading of whether Thucydides represents the Sicilian Expedition itself as a mistake, or only its execution, an issue on which Thucydides seems to waver. He concludes that the historian does not shy away from seeing historical outcomes as deriving from multiple causes, terming this “More X than Y” causation (Book Six, 5-6, Book Seven, 7-8). It can thus be true that Thucydides does in fact represent the Expedition as a mistake, but this does not preclude the possibility that it could have been salvaged with more effective leadership.
The Introductions also establish Pelling’s treatment of the narrative, the “plot” Thucydides spins out of innumerable real-world events, as largely literary. He thus emphasizes Thucydides’ engagement with other genres and authors, an especially important contribution for these Books, given their ethnographic and Homeric resonances. Among Pelling’s remarks on the importance of literary form in the shaping of humanity’s historical understanding is the fascinating note that modern jurors are more likely to find for courtroom narratives that resemble fictional stories they have seen in popular entertainment (Book Six, 13, Book Seven, 15).
I use two sample passages to convey the general characteristics of Pelling’s work: Nicias’ last speech discouraging the Sicilian Expedition and the Athenian reaction (6.20-4); and the passage describing Athens’ avoidance of expenses following the Spartan investment of Decelea and the subsequent massacre of schoolchildren (among others) at Mycalessus, perpetrated by dismissed Athenian mercenaries (7.27–30). I also briefly compare Pelling’s approach to other commentaries, to offer a sense of how they differ.
As an example of Pelling’s literary bent, he examines the intertextual and medical implications of ἔρως ἐνέπεσε (6.24.3). He treats speeches as personalized, in this case noting the ways in which Nicias’ character is revealed in the language Thucydides attributes to him, in agreement with Tompkins (1972).
Literary elements are also central to Pelling’s treatment of the Decelea-Mycalessus episode, which highlights that “it is the little people and the little cities that suffer worst” (Book Seven, 135), in this case, because Athens’ apparent miscalculation and stinginess lead to the bloodshed at Mycalessus. Pelling explores the ways that this horrible truth emerges not only through juxtaposition of the two passages, but also because Thucydides’ language ties them together (also discussed by Kallet (2001) 121-46). In the Mycalessus passage, Pelling argues that Thucydides’ emphasis on the city’s “smallness” – somewhat incongruous given that it hosts multiple schools – increases the sense of the pathetic vulnerability of the place (Book Seven, 143). He points out that repetition of πολυτελής at 7.28.1 produces the sense that “actual and potential expenses are piling up” (Book Seven, 138); a similar repetition of variations on ταλαιπωρέω sends the message that “miseries are piling up along with expenses” (7.28.2, Book Seven, 139). Pelling also notes the use of short phrases at the height of the violence to create a chaotic and rapid tempo for the massacre of the children, as well as the way Thucydides’ favorite concluding statement, τὰ μὲν κατά… τοιαῦτα ξυνέβη (7.30.3), sets the reader up for the δέ that introduces the next item: “the war goes relentlessly on” (Book Seven, 146).
The commentaries also offer considerable language support, something especially important in Book Six due to its unusually high proportion of speeches. Pelling explains vocabulary, syntax, and grammar not only when it violates the norm, but also when it is simply difficult, with copious citation of the new Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek as well as older resources such as Goodwin’s Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb. His work will be helpful not only for seasoned scholars but also for less experienced ones; for example, he glosses ὡς ἐν μιᾷ νήσῳ (“considering that they are all in a single island,” 6.20.2, Book Six, 160), or ὕστεροι (7.27.2, Book Seven, 136) meaning “too late.” Pelling also discusses matters such as word order that contribute both to a basic understanding of the Greek and to literary appreciation of it. Explanation of Thucydides’ language has been sparing in commentaries after the generation of Spratt, Classen-Steup, and Marchant. Many readers will accordingly be fervently grateful for this aspect of the new Cambridge volumes. It is unfortunate that some of the glosses quote the Greek only in part, with an ellipse, but this choice is understandable as a response to space limitations.
The commentaries are extremely rich. In many older ones, it is common to see entire sections or even multiple sections pass without comment, whereas Pelling finds a wealth of literary, grammatical, manuscript, and historical points of interest in every section of these two Books. The short Decelea-Mycalessus episode alone handles, among other topics, questions of the establishment of historical fact; manuscript transmission; the significance of literary echoes and narrative symmetry between this portion of this text and others; difficult translations and grammatical eccentricities unique to Thucydides; intertextuality such as the presence of medical terminology; and narratological issues such as Thucydides’ use of tenses to direct the reader’s attention to particular events. Engagement with modern scholarship is also extensive. Pelling’s treatment of Nicias’ speech considers similarly diverse topics, as well as noting how hearing the speech (either from Nicias’ mouth or as an oral delivery of Thucydides’ work) might have influenced the observer’s understanding of it (Book Six, 165). The Classen-Steup commentaries are in some ways similarly dense, though focused on different facets of the text, and can be physically challenging to read. But the formatting of Pelling’s commentaries is clear, with thoughtful use of bold print and spacing to keep the reader orientated.
The friendly and occasionally funny tone of the Introduction continues in the commentaries, for example when Pelling characterizes the Greeks’ view of their neighbors, unable to swim, as “landlubberly barbarians” (7.30.2, Book Seven, 145). Pelling also, of course, points out the casual racism of this assessment, and similar issues elsewhere.
Pelling leaves aside many questions of historical fact and topography to be handled by the HCT and Hornblower’s commentaries, which have dealt with them well. He is notably less interested in historical unanswerables than many previous readers. In the Decelea passage, for example, Thucydides states that 20,000 enslaved people escaped war-impoverished Athens (7.27.5). This claim has led to extensive debate concerning the correct number of escapees, the timeframe in which they escaped, and the labor they likely performed while enslaved. Pelling addresses these issues briefly, but sensibly notes regarding the number that “this will be Th.’s own estimate and there is no guarantee that it is an accurate one, but he was in a better position to make it than modern scholars to correct it” (Book Seven, 137).
Thucydides can be approached from many angles, and existing commentaries capably handle questions of history, topography, and geography. But commentary-style treatments focusing on a literary reading have been lacking, a significant deficit, given that scholarship on Thucydides has moved in a distinctly more literary direction over the past 30 years. Additionally, limited language support can prove a barrier for many in appreciating Thucydides’ text. Pelling’s volumes facilitate greater access to Thucydides, while his insightful readings demonstrate the way that Thucydides’ authorial choices leave the reader with a sense of the tragedy of the Peloponnesian War.
Bibliography
Kallet, L. 2001. Money and the Corrosion of Power in Thucydides: The Sicilian Expedition and its Aftermath. Berkeley.
Tompkins, D. P. 1972. “Stylistic Characterization in Thucydides: Nicias and Alcibiades.” YCIS 22: 181-214.