Sphinx

Well, that’s probably a bit of an exaggeration, but certainly this past year or so has seen Thucydides achieve a rather higher media profile: a series of appearances on BBC Radio 4 (including Tom Holland’s adaptation for Book at Bedtime), and ever more mentions in the context of the Greek economic crisis, including at the head of Channel 4 News the other night. There’s still a long way to go before Thucydides can be taken for granted as an authority figure in general current affairs discussions in Britain, compared with his established status in the US – one of the things that’s struck me is the extent to which almost every person mentioning him (see e.g. the letter in today’s Grauniad) feels the need to sketch in a load of background, and appears to assume that this is the first time Thucydides will actually have been mentioned. But we do seem to be getting there.

This isn’t simply a product of events in Greece; the groundwork was already being laid… When I published my article ‘Thucydides Quote Unquote’ in 2013 (Arion 20.3, pp. 9-36; pre-print version available for free download), I could offer a clear argument for the different status of Thucydides in the US and the UK on the basis of his prominence in anthologies of quotations: lots and lots in Bartlett’s, tending to increase from edition to edition since the 1950s (with some unusual patterns of which quotes were included); four quotations in the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (three from the Funeral Oration plus “a possession for all time”) and then nothing subsequently. It’s not that Thucydides is an obviously quotable writer – but he has become one, at least in America, above all through a self-perpetuating cycle in which he’s included in books of quotations and then as a result quoted by politicians and journalists, which then reinforces his case for inclusion in subsequent anthologies and editions. And this is why the internet is full of people tweeting the “Scholars and Warriors” quote despite clear evidence that it has nothing to do with Thucydides, which is why I have to stop searching for ‘Thucydides’ and firing off irritated corrections, at least until I can master the skills necessary to produce an autonomous Thucydidiocy-bot to do the job for me…

I digress. I have belatedly noticed the publication of the latest (8th) edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and taken the opportunity to search the on-line edition. Well, Thucydides is back in Britain. Three quotations under his own name, two from 1.22 and one from 5.105 (which is, I think, the only occasion on which that line has appeared in any anthology that I know of, and definitely bears further investigation), the first two using the Crawley translation and the third not specified (also a little odd). Five quotations under Pericles (but Thuc is referenced, with the Warner translation specified for the first one): all naturally from the Funeral Oration, all very familiar from other anthologies (2.40.1, 2.41, 2.43.3, 2.43.4, 2.45.2). One under Nicias (The city consists in men… 7.77). Interestingly, no sign of the strong doing what they like – which was a very late arrival in US anthologies as well, despite its ubiquity.

If you’re going to include something from the Melian Dialogue at all, why 5.105 (“Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a law of their nature, wherever they can rule they will”)? Is this somehow a more British statement of imperialistic arrogance than the usual “The strong do what they can…”? A quick Google hasn’t thrown up anything specifically British as yet besides a speech by Chris Patten when he was still a European Commissioner, discussing Winston Churchill’s views on the power of different nations, including America (Thucydides is introduced specifically to characterise US power in the second half of the twentieth century). Was this enough to push the quote into the field of vision of the Oxford Dictionary‘s compilers? Will let you know if I find anything further…