The Peloponnesian War

By: Alessandro Baricco
Translated by: Aristidh Shqevi

After the historical book "The Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides, the book of the same title by the American historian Donald Kagan is the best text to learn about the mother of all wars...

It is a well-known fact that the most difficult military maneuver is withdrawal: its implementation in the field, without causing embarrassment, is almost impossible. In the strategic and grand retreat that the civilization of books has undertaken as a result of various barbaric and indecipherable technological developments, it is not at all rare that you are left stunned by the maneuvers that introduce lemery. Maybe there are details that I can't overlook.

Recently, for example, I had to make a note somewhere that in kiosks, against the price of one euro, Aristotle's book, "Constitution of the Athenians", was on sale. So far we are fine. Approximately 500 copies were sold. If you feel like getting excited about these numbers, you're free to do that too. But I would like to be clear: selling Aristotle's book for one euro is like being in an amusement park with a Stradivari in your hand and playing the violin for five minutes for one euro in front of everyone who are willing to pay this amount of lek (candies are more expensive). Where can you find that an amateur arrives there who has at his disposal five legal minutes, but also a special pleasure: while others, of course with me, as is right, manage to keep the Stradivari in hand properly. Everything would be fine as long as they didn't try to play the violin as if it were a guitar. A real sadness.

What's wrong with that? You would ask. I don't know this, and I don't even want to open debates. But I just know, with an instinctive certainty, that it is not good to do so. I realize that we are already in a situation where things are sold below their value, but that doesn't matter. With great respect, I will tell you that it would be good if what happened with the book "Constitution of the Athenians" does not happen again. And if you don't understand why, you never will.

What I can happily do is dedicate this article to those 500 copies of the book sold. So the world of classical Greece is a very complicated and very fascinating world: among other things, it is reasonable to think that our entire genetic heritage, if we talk about politics and culture, originates entirely from it. As with all complex things, this fact also needs to be recognized through a patient but not pushy approach.

Since you have to start somewhere, I advise you to start with this book, which, apart from the fact that it costs one euro, narrates the Peloponnesian War in an authoritative, understandable and captivating way. Athens at war against Sparta, for twenty-seven years. At stake was the dominance of Greece. It was more than a war, it was war itself. I believe it is fair to say that the greatness of classical Athens is inextricably linked to this military conflict: it is therefore both cause and effect at the same time. Understand this struggle because it will help you make great progress in your work. In particular, it will help you to better understand any notion related to Athenian democracy in its proper context (which is very important since the idea of ​​democracy comes from there). Put this in simple words: when you say 'Athenian democracy' you will be conscious of what you are saying. This knowledge will be given to you by the countless events found in the book "Constitution of the Athenians", where it is about events which are more beautiful than the other.

Listen to this story (for me a story that in a great way serves as a symbolism of one of the fragilities of democracy). Then, it happens that at one stage of the war, while the inhabitants of Athens have their work cut out, because they have fainted from the plague that has decimated the population, one of their allies, the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, goes over to the side of the Spartans. They had their reasons for doing so, and they did. Even though they are caught, the Athenians understand that if they allow their former allies to throw them at them without a thorn in their side, they themselves risk the domino effect, that is, facing a situation where "everyone is allowed to do what they want' which would disintegrate their empire: therefore they use all their remaining human and financial energies and, thus, set out to besiege the island of Lesbos. The Spartans, who were tasked with rushing to help Mytilene, lose their bearings (they weren't always in shape like in the movie "The Three Hundred..."). Mytilene falls and Athens retakes the city. This is where the fantastic part of the event begins. The Athenians gather in assembly to decide the fate of the vanquished. This was their way of improving public affairs, a method that was as distinguished as it was ingenious: they gathered in assemblies and voted there, all of them. It was called democracy. It is not necessary to take this literally, for it must be noted that when they spoke of all they meant all who were worthy to go to the assembly, and that to be honest means fifteen percent of the population. However, it was about fifteen thousand, twenty thousand people, and so the spectacle, as can be imagined, turns into a real frenzy.

Can you imagine twenty thousand people debating under the influence of rage, fear, enthusiasm, excitement, and the desire to inflict pain on the treacherous city? The decision they made is not surprising at all: all adult males were to be killed, while women and children were to be sold into slavery. An ethnic cleansing. They voted, made the decision and went to sleep. A ship sailed for Mytilene to convey the dire decision to its inhabitants (email did not exist). The next morning they woke up and after the drunkenness had passed they began to wonder if they had judged fairly. Then they called the assembly again (miracle) and resumed the discussions. With sober minds, the drums of the next demagogues did not sound very convincing, while the opinion clearly expressed by some sober people suddenly seemed more acceptable. So they decided to change the first decision to the death penalty only for those who had a direct connection with the treason (several hundred people, anyway convicted without trial) and life pardon for the others. The problem, however, was that the ship had already set sail with the tragic decision on board the ship. Then (miracle number two) they decided to launch a second ship in order to convey the new decision to the island. It was a day late. The oarsmen were provided with plenty of food. They were promised a large reward if they succeeded in capturing the first ship.

Now, you must imagine the two ships, one in pursuit of the other, in a calm sea between Athens and the island of Lesbos; tell me if there is a nicer way to sum up the shaky ethical conscience of any kind of democracy. No, I don't tell them which ship arrived at Mytilene first. Get up, go to the bookstore, spend more than a euro, buy the book and you'll find out what happened next. You can even Google it if you really don't have an ounce of poetry left…