ABSTRACT
Thucydides describes the occupation of Pylos as the result of a fortuitous concatenation of lucky accidents. Yet from the facts supplied by himself a critical reader sees pretty clearly that, although luck did favour the operation, it was by no means the pure freak of fortune which he represents it. Thucydides tells that Demosthenes in this operation was chiefly guided by the recollection of “his disaster in Aetolia, which had been in a considerable measure caused by the forest. The success of the Pylos-Sphacteria enterprise reanimated this party and frustrated the efforts of its opponents, with whom Thucydides sympathised. How little ground there is for attributing Thucydides’ judgment of Cleon to personal enmity may be seen from his more merciless treatment of Hyperbolus. Thucydides was assuredly a great historian. But the historian who, holding strong opinions on such a vital matter as peace and war, can altogether maintain his placidity must be more than human.
