11) Formally speaking, the straight narrative plus the speeches puts the reader in a preliminary unmediated mimesis posture; but because the question of causality is so complex, he needs additional help: first, the unhistorical allusions to the prophasis within the speeches, second, the full-scale analysis of causality in the Pentecontaetia retrospect; the combination of these three modes puts the reader at the critical intersection of spatial/horizontal and chronological/vertical which enables himself to understand everything and himself to face the question faced by the Spartans and Athenians at the time: what to do now?12) The criticism voiced by historians and conceded by some literary interpreters that Thucydides says insufficient about Megara and Aegina is misconceived: 67.2 subsumes Aegina under the prophasis, and the pressure exerted on the Spartans both by the Megarians and by the Aeginetans is part of the general pressure which compelled the Spartans to war. It accords with the programme of 23.5–6 that they get the attention they do: it is important and sufficient. Historians’ criticisms of the Pentecontaetia similarly misconceive its purpose.
11) Formally speaking, the straight narrative plus the speeches puts the reader in a preliminary unmediated mimesis posture; but because the question of causality is so complex, he needs additional help: first, the unhistorical allusions to the prophasis within the speeches, second, the full-scale analysis of causality in the Pentecontaetia retrospect; the combination of these three modes puts the reader at the critical intersection of spatial/horizontal and chronological/vertical which enables himself to understand everything and himself to face the question faced by the Spartans and Athenians at the time: what to do now?<br>12) The criticism voiced by historians and conceded by some literary interpreters that Thucydides says insufficient about Megara and Aegina is misconceived: 67.2 subsumes Aegina under the prophasis, and the pressure exerted on the Spartans both by the Megarians and by the Aeginetans is part of the general pressure which compelled the Spartans to war. It accords with the programme of 23.5–6 that they get the attention they do: it is important and sufficient. Historians’ criticisms of the Pentecontaetia similarly misconceive its purpose.
正在翻译中..