| Original Message |
Aaron Harris (no login)
Posted Mar 18, 2005 5:49 PM
Athens had many politicians who acted in their own interests rather than the best interests of the state. Many of these politicians shaped her policies for the worse. However she also had statesmen who looked out for her best interests, and Nicias was undoubtedly one of those statesmen. He showed he was a statesman by looking out for Athens’ best interests and in his awe of the supernatural. His awe of the supernatural showed his humility and loyalty, two virtues that a statesman should have.
Nicias was always committed to Athens’ best interests. He shone his brightest when all of Athens was set on a foolish course. There are many examples of Nicias acting in Athens’ best interests. The peace treaty with Sparta was one example. When he realized that the two men who were against peace were dead, Nicias negotiated a peace treaty with Sparta that ended up helping Athens greatly. However, the greatest way that he helped Athens was opposing the military campaign against Sicily. Nicias realized that the campaign would end in disaster. It should have been obvious to the people, but Alcibiades, a Greek politician, held their imaginations. Everyone from old men to young were thinking of Sicily and all the other places that they would conquer. Because Athens was fooled by Alcibiades and because they had a personal greed for power, Nicias could not find many people to support him. Even though his personal reputation was at stake, Nicias fought with everything he had against the measure. Nicias’ actions stood in stark contrast to the actions of Alcibiades, who generally acted on what he thought would get himself more power. Nicias, on the other hand, always acted on what he believed was Athens’ best interests.
A second character trait that defined Nicias was his awe of the supernatural. Once Nicias freed one of his slaves because he said the gods had consecrated him with public acclaim. Nicias’ awe of the gods can be seen in the way that he sponsored and ran a religious event at Delos. Plutarch says that “the ceremonies which Nicias organized at Delos have gone down in history both as acts of devotion to the god and as demonstrations of lavish public generosity.” Nicias probably had secondary motives to running the ceremony so lavishly; he wanted public opinion in favor of himself. There were other times when his awe did get him in deep trouble. A prime example is in the doomed Sicilian campaign. When the Sicilian campaign went badly, Nicias decided to leave Sicily. Unfortunately, there was a lunar eclipse the night of the scheduled evacuation. Nicias and his men were shaken by the eclipse and regarded it as a sign from the gods. The normal thing to do in a situation like this was to wait three days and then leave. Instead Nicias decided to wait until the moon was full again. On top of all this, Nicias devoted all his time to divination and sorcery after the eclipse. This made the Athenians lose the precious time they needed, and eventually led to the capture of the army and the death of Nicias. While Nicias’ awe of the supernatural led to his downfall, it showed his humility and piety that made him a statesman.
As we look at the life of a statesman and general we have to ask, “Was he a good man who was noble and just?” Although Nicias had his faults as every great man has had, he led a good and just life. The two biggest reasons that he was a statesman were: He acted in Athens best interests even when his personal reputation was at stake, and he was in awe of the supernatural.
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