Athenian resilience after the epidemic
The epidemic thus hurt the Athenians materially by devastating their population,
politically by removing their foremost leader,
Pericles1, and psychologically by damaging their self-confidence. Nevertheless, they
fought on resiliently. Despite the loss of manpower inflicted by the epidemic, the
Athenian military forces proved effective.
Potidaea, the ally whose rebellion had exacerbated the hostile
relations between Athens and Corinth, was compelled to surrender in
430.2 The Athenian navy won
two major victories in 429 off
Naupactus3 in the western
Gulf of Corinth under the general Phormio. A
serious revolt in 428-427 on the
island of Lesbos, led by the city-state of
Mytilene,4 was forcefully put down.
One of the most famous passages in Thucydides is the set of vivid speeches on the fate
of the Mytilenians presented by Cleon and Diodotus. The opposing speeches respectively
argue for capital punishment based on justice and clemency based on expediency. Their
arguments represent stirring and provocative positions that bear on larger
political and ethical questions than the immediate issue of what to do about the
rebels of Mytilene.5
