Chapter 6 - Strife and Concord

Summary

This chapter looks at declamations on conflicts between cities, taking as its primary case studies Aristides' On behalf of making peace with the Lacedaemonians (Or. 7), in which an Athenian urges his fellow countrymen to accept the Spartan offer of peace in 425, and On making peace with the Athenians (Or. 8), in which a Spartan speaks in favour of preserving Athens in 404. The issues in such declamations are often the same as those in contemporary disputes between cities (territorial disputes, tax and trade, titles), and even discussed using the same discourses (freedom and oppression, envy, concord). From its use in real political oratory, we may conclude that the lesson drawn from the Peloponnesian War as presented in declamation was above all to pursue concord and avoid strife, with contemporary conflicts made to seem trivial. But approaching what was clearly a sensitive issue at one remove makes the lesson more palatable, and dramatizing it in the form of a declamation more memorable; the most reflective audiences, noticing how the same discourses were used by either side, might have concluded that a little more humility was needed in future disputes.