Today's Passage
This passage presents Cleon's speech during the Mytilenian Debate (427 BCE), following Mytilene's failed revolt against Athens.
Crawley Translation (1910)
“No hope, therefore, that rhetoric may instil or money purchase, of the mercy due to human infirmity must be held out to the Mitylenians. Their offence was not involuntary, but of malice and deliberate; and mercy is only for unwilling offenders. I therefore, now as before, persist against your reversing your first decision, or giving way to the three failings most fatal to empire—pity, sentiment, and indulgence. Compassion is due to those who can reciprocate the feeling, not to those who will never pity us in return, but are our natural and necessary foes: the orators who charm us with sentiment may find other less important arenas for their talents, in the place of one where the city pays a heavy penalty for a momentary pleasure, themselves receiving fine acknowledgments for their fine phrases; while indulgence should be shown towards those who will be our friends in future, instead of towards men who will remain just what they were, and as much our enemies as before. To sum up shortly, I say that if you follow my advice you will do what is just towards the Mitylenians, and at the same time expedient; while by a different decision you will not oblige them so much as pass sentence upon yourselves. For if they were right in rebelling, you must be wrong in ruling. However, if, right or wrong, you determine to rule, you must carry out your principle and punish the Mitylenians as your interest requires; or else you must give up your empire and cultivate honesty without danger. Make up your minds, therefore, to give them like for like; and do not let the victims who escaped the plot be more insensible than the conspirators who hatched it; but reflect what they would have done if victorious over you, especially they were the aggressors. It is they who wrong their neighbour without a cause, that pursue their victim to the death, on account of the danger which they foresee in letting their enemy survive; since the object of a wanton wrong is more dangerous, if he escape, than an enemy who has not this to complain of. Do not, therefore, be traitors to yourselves, but recall as nearly as possible the moment of suffering and the supreme importance which you then attached to their reduction; and now pay them back in their turn, without yielding to present weakness or forgetting the peril that once hung over you. Punish them as they deserve, and teach your other allies by a striking example that the penalty of rebellion is death. Let them once understand this and you will not have so often to neglect your enemies while you are fighting with your own confederates.”
Such were the words of Cleon. After him Diodotus, son of Eucrates, who had also in the previous assembly spoken most strongly against putting the Mitylenians to death, came forward and spoke as follows:
Modern Translation
Let no one harbor the illusion that eloquent speeches or financial bribes can secure mercy for the Mitylenians on grounds of human weakness. Their crime was not accidental but calculated and deliberate; mercy belongs only to those who offend unwillingly. Therefore, I maintain my original position and urge you not to reverse your initial judgment, nor to succumb to the three most destructive weaknesses of empire: pity, sentimentality, and leniency. Compassion should be reserved for those capable of returning it, not for those who will never show us mercy and who remain our inevitable enemies. Those orators who seduce us with emotional appeals should display their talents in less critical venues—not where the city suffers severe consequences for a brief moment of satisfaction while they receive acclaim for their eloquence. Leniency should be extended to potential future allies, not to those who will persist as enemies regardless of our generosity. To be concise: following my counsel means acting both justly and pragmatically toward the Mitylenians. Any other course effectively condemns yourselves. If they were justified in rebelling, then your rule must be unjust. But if you're resolved to maintain your empire—rightly or wrongly—then you must act according to imperial logic and punish the Mitylenians as necessity demands. Otherwise, abandon your empire and pursue virtue in safety. Resolve to repay them in kind. Don't let those who escaped their conspiracy show less resolve than the plotters themselves. Consider what they would have inflicted on you had they prevailed—especially since they initiated the aggression. Those who harm others unprovoked pursue their victims relentlessly, recognizing the danger in allowing an injured enemy to survive; for someone wronged without cause poses a greater threat if they escape than an ordinary adversary. Don't betray your own interests. Recall as vividly as possible your terror and how desperately you wanted to crush them. Now return the favor without weakening in the present or forgetting your past danger. Punish them appropriately and demonstrate to your other allies that rebellion means death. Once they grasp this lesson, you'll spend less time fighting your own confederates instead of your actual enemies.
Historical Context
This passage presents Cleon's speech during the Mytilenian Debate (427 BCE), following Mytilene's failed revolt against Athens. After initially voting to execute all adult males and enslave the women and children, the Athenian Assembly reconvened the next day to reconsider this harsh decree. Cleon, Athens' leading demagogue after Pericles' death, argues forcefully against reversing the decision. He frames the debate in terms of imperial necessity versus dangerous sentimentality, warning that showing mercy would encourage further rebellions among Athens' subject allies. His speech exemplifies the brutal logic of empire and the tension between justice and power that permeates Thucydides' work. Diodotus will follow with a counter-argument based on Athenian self-interest rather than humanitarian concerns.
Key Themes
Annotations & References
Athenian Imperial Policy
The Mytilenian Debate reveals the harsh realities of Athens' empire (arche). Cleon articulates the logic that maintaining imperial control requires brutal deterrence, as subject cities were held by force rather than affection. This passage shows how Athens' democracy could produce decisions as ruthless as any autocracy.
Learn more →Demagogy in Athens
Cleon represents the new breed of politician after Pericles—more violent in rhetoric, appealing to popular prejudices, and advocating extreme measures. Thucydides generally portrays him negatively as the archetypal demagogue who corrupted Athenian politics through appeals to the demos' worst instincts.
Learn more →Greek Concepts of Justice
Cleon's argument reveals the Greek tension between different concepts of justice (dike). He conflates what is legally right with what is politically expedient, arguing that imperial necessity creates its own morality—a recurring theme in Thucydides about how power shapes conceptions of justice.
Learn more →Parallel Ancient Sources
Aristotle: Constitution of Athens (28.3-4)
Aristotle describes Cleon as the first to shout and use abusive language on the speaker's platform, marking a decline in Athenian political discourse after Pericles.
Read passage →Plutarch: Life of Nicias (3.1-2)
Plutarch contrasts Cleon's violent rhetoric with Nicias's moderation, providing context for understanding different political styles in democratic Athens during the war.
Read passage →Xenophon: Hellenica (2.2.3)
Describes Athens' treatment of Melos later in the war, showing how the logic Cleon articulates here became standard Athenian imperial practice with even more brutal results.
Read passage →Discussion Questions
- How does Cleon's argument reveal the inherent contradictions between democratic values and imperial rule? Can a democracy maintain an empire without betraying its principles?
- Analyze Cleon's rhetorical strategy: how does he use fear, precedent, and reciprocity to make his case? What does this reveal about political persuasion in democratic Athens?
- Is Cleon's logic about deterrence sound? Does harsh punishment actually prevent rebellion, or might it provoke more desperate resistance?
- How does Thucydides want us to view this speech? What clues in the language or argumentation suggest the historian's own perspective?