ABSTRACT
Some moderns would limit the study of history to the forces which govern the action of states, because these approximate more closely to the operation of causes in the physical world and can therefore more readily be grouped under “laws.” Thucydides never loses sight of this element, with the result that the course of events, as described by him, is always intelligible. With rare exceptions, it will be seen that Thucydides explains the actions of individuals, as of states, from the main ground of self-interest. For Alcibiades Thucydides had the feelings natural to a judge for a criminal: his sketch of him is very illuminating on this point and full of suggestive detail. The Lacedaemonian king Archidamus favoured a policy of peace solely and simply from a conviction that his country had everything to gain by putting off the evil day.
