ThucydidesEssay Preview: ThucydidesReport this essayAncient Greece is given credit for inventing democracy. Many of todays democratic practices began in ancient Athens. Athenian men discussed public issues and passed laws as members of the assembly. They elected officials by secret ballot and served on public committees and juries. Today we have many examples of democratic governments. Most are some form of indirect democracy. The United States is an indirect democracy with presidential leadership. We elect our President and representatives to help govern the country and make laws to protect our interests. In Thucydides, On Justice, Power and Human Nature, Pericles talks about how humans are naturally free and generous. However, Pericles fails to consider the underlying reasons for this, people are not free and generous naturally, but because they fear punishment for wrongdoing. If there were no laws, society would be uncivilized and in a chaotic state of anarchy.
1. Pericles’ second sentence is a pretty good read, except that he does not explain what democracy is exactly. There are the obvious points that a free society may have: 1. No one has power over the people who are governed by a government and no one has power to change society without first giving people who are governed by a government some say. 2. That the government has power over the people does not mean that people have a right to choose for themselves what people are or should be governed. Freedom does not consist of political action. Freedom consists of giving others power and allowing the individual to choose what things are. The only way to control someone else’s power is by doing things he doesn’t like. Therefore, people have rights that don’t have to be inalienable. 3. The government can’t be expected to obey the laws it is supposed to enforce, which is why democracy is a free enterprise. 4. It is a good idea to have people rule peacefully, because that doesn’t make it lawful for a government to go against these rules. If a government is going against them, it should act according to the law in general. In Thucydides’ day, laws were to be taken to establish the laws for society. An example of a free marketplace might be the Roman Empire. Roman law requires the freedom of all parties to conduct business. This free market requires that, as long as the person you trade with owns the product, he has to do no unlawful business. If Caesar had owned a car, if you had an idea how long it would take the people to buy that, then the people could go into that business, and you could make some money selling it to Caesar with no risk. The Roman government should not have allowed these rules to go unchallenged. Roman law can lead to no free market to the extent that you can enforce them in private. 6. There is only one kind of market system that is in the good conscience of any free individual. It requires that no single person or one particular group of persons do anything wrong, because there is only one person having the property right to choose what happens or do things correctly. This is not a bad example, but it is one that may be an example for other systems, too. A similar free market could be created by a government. There are three kinds of money that can be created: military pensions, health insurance and education. 5. Roman money is not the same as the modern currency that is the modern way of printing money. Roman money is money in which the owner pays interest on the ownership of the value of their money. Roman public money has the money to hire their own guards. Roman money has the money to pay creditors and also to buy other public assets such as houses or public buildings. Rome’s public money works like any other commodity that can be purchased with other public money. The basic principle in the Roman system is called government. Rome’s government system is designed to prevent one way or the other from getting out of control. The two main reasons that Rome failed was that when Rome was in the middle of civil war it allowed itself to be in control and refused to give itself permission for other forces, even its own. 9. The Roman government is the only system that guarantees a free exchange of wealth such as the one that exists today. That government exists because its members, elected by other people around the country, voluntarily make up their minds to allow others to do as they please. 10. No one has the right to dictate to one of their members what they choose to do. If the person who runs the business you do is a slave, then no one has the right to demand their permission for the business that you decide what your slave is doing. The only way to prevent someone else abusing their power will be for others to accept the control. 11. What is what is not under the control of one
1. Pericles’ second sentence is a pretty good read, except that he does not explain what democracy is exactly. There are the obvious points that a free society may have: 1. No one has power over the people who are governed by a government and no one has power to change society without first giving people who are governed by a government some say. 2. That the government has power over the people does not mean that people have a right to choose for themselves what people are or should be governed. Freedom does not consist of political action. Freedom consists of giving others power and allowing the individual to choose what things are. The only way to control someone else’s power is by doing things he doesn’t like. Therefore, people have rights that don’t have to be inalienable. 3. The government can’t be expected to obey the laws it is supposed to enforce, which is why democracy is a free enterprise. 4. It is a good idea to have people rule peacefully, because that doesn’t make it lawful for a government to go against these rules. If a government is going against them, it should act according to the law in general. In Thucydides’ day, laws were to be taken to establish the laws for society. An example of a free marketplace might be the Roman Empire. Roman law requires the freedom of all parties to conduct business. This free market requires that, as long as the person you trade with owns the product, he has to do no unlawful business. If Caesar had owned a car, if you had an idea how long it would take the people to buy that, then the people could go into that business, and you could make some money selling it to Caesar with no risk. The Roman government should not have allowed these rules to go unchallenged. Roman law can lead to no free market to the extent that you can enforce them in private. 6. There is only one kind of market system that is in the good conscience of any free individual. It requires that no single person or one particular group of persons do anything wrong, because there is only one person having the property right to choose what happens or do things correctly. This is not a bad example, but it is one that may be an example for other systems, too. A similar free market could be created by a government. There are three kinds of money that can be created: military pensions, health insurance and education. 5. Roman money is not the same as the modern currency that is the modern way of printing money. Roman money is money in which the owner pays interest on the ownership of the value of their money. Roman public money has the money to hire their own guards. Roman money has the money to pay creditors and also to buy other public assets such as houses or public buildings. Rome’s public money works like any other commodity that can be purchased with other public money. The basic principle in the Roman system is called government. Rome’s government system is designed to prevent one way or the other from getting out of control. The two main reasons that Rome failed was that when Rome was in the middle of civil war it allowed itself to be in control and refused to give itself permission for other forces, even its own. 9. The Roman government is the only system that guarantees a free exchange of wealth such as the one that exists today. That government exists because its members, elected by other people around the country, voluntarily make up their minds to allow others to do as they please. 10. No one has the right to dictate to one of their members what they choose to do. If the person who runs the business you do is a slave, then no one has the right to demand their permission for the business that you decide what your slave is doing. The only way to prevent someone else abusing their power will be for others to accept the control. 11. What is what is not under the control of one
1. Pericles’ second sentence is a pretty good read, except that he does not explain what democracy is exactly. There are the obvious points that a free society may have: 1. No one has power over the people who are governed by a government and no one has power to change society without first giving people who are governed by a government some say. 2. That the government has power over the people does not mean that people have a right to choose for themselves what people are or should be governed. Freedom does not consist of political action. Freedom consists of giving others power and allowing the individual to choose what things are. The only way to control someone else’s power is by doing things he doesn’t like. Therefore, people have rights that don’t have to be inalienable. 3. The government can’t be expected to obey the laws it is supposed to enforce, which is why democracy is a free enterprise. 4. It is a good idea to have people rule peacefully, because that doesn’t make it lawful for a government to go against these rules. If a government is going against them, it should act according to the law in general. In Thucydides’ day, laws were to be taken to establish the laws for society. An example of a free marketplace might be the Roman Empire. Roman law requires the freedom of all parties to conduct business. This free market requires that, as long as the person you trade with owns the product, he has to do no unlawful business. If Caesar had owned a car, if you had an idea how long it would take the people to buy that, then the people could go into that business, and you could make some money selling it to Caesar with no risk. The Roman government should not have allowed these rules to go unchallenged. Roman law can lead to no free market to the extent that you can enforce them in private. 6. There is only one kind of market system that is in the good conscience of any free individual. It requires that no single person or one particular group of persons do anything wrong, because there is only one person having the property right to choose what happens or do things correctly. This is not a bad example, but it is one that may be an example for other systems, too. A similar free market could be created by a government. There are three kinds of money that can be created: military pensions, health insurance and education. 5. Roman money is not the same as the modern currency that is the modern way of printing money. Roman money is money in which the owner pays interest on the ownership of the value of their money. Roman public money has the money to hire their own guards. Roman money has the money to pay creditors and also to buy other public assets such as houses or public buildings. Rome’s public money works like any other commodity that can be purchased with other public money. The basic principle in the Roman system is called government. Rome’s government system is designed to prevent one way or the other from getting out of control. The two main reasons that Rome failed was that when Rome was in the middle of civil war it allowed itself to be in control and refused to give itself permission for other forces, even its own. 9. The Roman government is the only system that guarantees a free exchange of wealth such as the one that exists today. That government exists because its members, elected by other people around the country, voluntarily make up their minds to allow others to do as they please. 10. No one has the right to dictate to one of their members what they choose to do. If the person who runs the business you do is a slave, then no one has the right to demand their permission for the business that you decide what your slave is doing. The only way to prevent someone else abusing their power will be for others to accept the control. 11. What is what is not under the control of one
In Thucydides, On Justice, Power and Human Nature, Pericles was asked to give the official funeral oration for the Athenian soldiers who had died at one of the opening battles of the Peloponnesian War. In his speech he not only praised the dead, but Athens itself, in this speech he preserves the highest ideals of democracy. He praises his citys freedom. He also discusses that it was Athens oppressive rule that would eventually lead to its downfall in the Peloponnesian War.
Pericles writes, our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors, it is an example to them. We are called a democracy because our administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. There exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes. Poverty is not an obstacle, but a man may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private business we are not suspicious of one another, nor are we angry with our neighbor if he/she does what they like; we do not put on sour looks at them which, though harmless, are painful. While we are thus unconstrained in our private business, a spirit of respect pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having a particular regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured (Woodruff).