Everything the people of Athens believed in and practiced became a thing of the past. All the ideologies that were admired became shameful. Hamilton claims that the Peloponnesian War was caused by Greek greed itself, egos grew, and victory of the Persian War came to their minds. With all their courage they fought the Spartans. The people who thrived off of a militaristic mindset and society, fighting is what they were raised to do. Athens’ defeat closed Greece’s Golden Age, closing the minds of the Greeks themselves. Lucky to have avoided being conquered by the Spartans, the Greeks felt hopeful, but the Peloponnesian War changed something in the people. Quoting Plato and Socrates, Hamilton claims that this change is most drastically seen in the Greek art made after the loss. Self discipline became a thing of the past. Art wasn’t like it used to be, and those who had mastered such trade were dying without passing the skills down to children or an apprentice. Not only was art affected, but the Athenian government as well. It had been so easy to believe that a good government was made up of good men, but dishonesty crept between officials. There was a fundamental shift in the state and Athenians began to want to be paid for public services, for the state to provide a comfortable life. This attitude change ran deep, instead of giving to the state, the state was to give to men. The people of Athens were rejecting independence and the only freedom wanted was freedom from responsibility. Hamilton went as far to add Plato’s giving up on Athens. Plato had ended up resenting the way Athens became, he believed the state was irresponsible in not balancing out the freedom that defined them so often with responsibility. Athens was to never have freedom again. Before the Peloponnesian War, Greece had some of the best schools, run by the most famous men like Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates. Education was the, if not most, important part of the culture in Athens. After the war, the older generation began to fear for the future of the younger generation, concerned they weren’t taught enough. Popular for the younger generation was the required military service at the age of 18, which is when Athenian law was implemented into their minds and used as a form of discipline. A young man’s service in the army was life changing, he was treated with respect and importance, leaving him to make better decisions about his future as a good citizen. This younger generation was born and raised throughout a 27 year old war, where they didn’t experience community or partnership, but where they saw failure.
My favorite quote of the week was, “‘But first you must be persuaded that minding your own business is better than meddling with other people's.’” Hamilton actually quotes Thucydides here, an Athenian historian. And this quote really reminded me of the United States, and the imperialistic foreign policies we had. It’s insane to me because this was said about 2,000 years before American imperialism, a period of time where we just didn’t know how to mind our business. We were so obsessed with being the saviors of the world, and honestly we still are. It makes me wonder how America would’ve turned out if we just…kept to ourselves.
I love Hamilton’s use of diction throughout the book. It’s been about 65 years since this book was written and even though it was difficult to understand at first, the book really picks up the pace. Something that I noticed in this book that’s not as noticeable in more recent books, is the constant use of quotes that account for primary sources being used as evidence. I mean, that’s what every writer does of course, but there’s something so specific about the way Hamilton implements quotes. Something that piqued my interest was her comparing Socrates to Jesus. That is such a controversial and touchy subject. I wasn’t a huge fan of the comparison though, it seemed as if Hamilton was trying to paint Socrates in a godly light, and that’s not something I particularly support.
