투퀴디데스의 『역사』에서의 연설문 연구

Abstract

This dissertation explores some of the speeches in Thucydides History as the crucial key to understanding his views on the ideas and visions of the Athenian Leaders

and the conflict between the ideal and reality of Athenian democracy. The following speeches are discussed in detail

the three Speeches of Pericles (432-430 bce), which were held just before and after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the Mytilenean debate between Cleon and Diodotus(427 bce), and the three speeches of Nicias and Alcibiades on Sicilian Expedition(415 bce). This dissertation focuses on the rhetorical strategies of the speakers, the verbal echoes between the speeches, and what the speeches reveal about the relationship between Athenian democracy and imperialism

and the decline in political leadership in Athens. Periclesthree speeches appears ideal and optimistic on the surface, but there are tension and contradiction between the ideal of democracy and the reality of imperialism underlying them. Pericles emphasizes only the bright side of Athens, inspiring the pride of Athenians and leading them in the direction which he wants. However, the ambiguity of the meaning of dynamis he repeatedly underlines reveals it. The narrative of the Great Plague follows the ideal Funeral Speeches. By this narrative order, Thucydides reveals the fragility of the balance between the ideal and the reality of Athens, which Pericles maximally idealizes and are fully accepted by dēmos. Also through the narrative of the Great Plague and the tragic tone of last Speech, Thucydides intends to lead the reader to see the beginning of the necessary decline of Athens. Thucydides presents the debate by Cleon and Diododtus on the Mytilenean Case in a symmetric logōn agōn. Thucydides makes this debate as a discussion about the interrelation between Athenian democracy and its imperialism. Cleon bluntly accepts the tension between Athenian democracy and its imperialism, of which Pericles is almost intentionally silent. On the other hadn, Diodotus insists that Athens should do as a stakeholder based on realpolitik. The logic behind the supremacy which they set out, is not intended to control the desire of the demos, but only to take advantage of it. Through the highly charged debate between them, Thucydides reveals indirectly but effectively the grim reality of Athenian Democracy and its Imperialism. The three Speeches of Nicias and Alcibiades are held before the Sicilian Expedition. Thucydides presents them in focusing on the characters of two. Using the verbal echoes, he brings the two political leaders who had limited capability compared to Pericles. The content and the arrangement of Nicias letter and the speeches he delivered in the course of retreat show clearly how Thucydides composed elaborately the logos of Nicias to be consistent with his character. The lack of the effectiveness of the Athenian political leaders demonstrates that Athen has become akephalos polis Thucydides continually reveals the interplay of the political leaders and dēmos by the medium of the speeches. These speeches portray the catastrophic change of Athenian democracy and its imperialism. The literary and rhetorical features of the speeches and the contexts give the contingent and temporarily events the philosophical and universal dimension.