Within this structure themes such a

Within this structure themes such as supplication, benefaction, and betrayal serve further to bind together the Plataean and Mytilenean episodes without obscuring the contrasts between them. Hence as we read on in the third book, our impression of the Mytilenean affair continues to be shaped by comparison to the Plataean episode. And conversely our reactions to the debate on the treatment of the Plataean captives are formed in part by our recollection of the Mytilenean episode and by our increasing awareness that in the world Thucydides describes advantage and not right decides the outcome of discussions. The reader, of course, already knows that the Plataeans' appeal will be unsuccessful, for every Greek was aware of the fate of Plataea. Hence appeals based on their past services, or on the promises made at the time of the Persian Wars are recognized immediately as ineffective. There is no suspense in the Plataean debate, for the outcome is well known. Yet the Plataean speech, although quite incapable of persuading the Spartans, has a powerful effect. It increases and emphasizes the discrepancy between the real world and an ideal world in which such appeals would be effective.