Editing Thucydides (section)

=== Later sources ===

The remaining evidence for Thucydides's life comes from later and rather less reliable ancient sources; [[Marcellinus (writer)|Marcellinus]] wrote Thucydides's biography about a thousand years after his death. According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], someone named Oenobius had a law passed allowing Thucydides to return to [[Athens]], presumably shortly after [[Peloponnesian War#Lysander triumphs, Athens surrenders|the city's surrender and the end of the war in 404 BC]]. Pausanias goes on to say that Thucydides was murdered on his way back to [[Athens]], placing his tomb near the [[Melite (Attica)|Melite gate]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 1.23.9</ref> Many doubt this account, seeing evidence to suggest he lived as late as 397 BC, or perhaps slightly later. [[Plutarch]] preserves a tradition that he was murdered in ''Skaptē Hulē'' and that his remains were returned to Athens, where a monument to him was erected in [[Cimon]]'s family plot.<ref>Plutarch, ''Cimon'' 4.1.2</ref> There are problems with this, since this was outside Thucydides's [[deme]] and the tradition goes back to [[Polemon of Athens|Polemon]], who asserted he had discovered just such a memorial.<ref>[[Luciano Canfora]]( 2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=LOx5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 “Biographical Obscurities and Problems of Composition”] Antonis Tsakmakis, Antonios Rengakos  (eds.). ''Brill's Companion to Thucydides''  [[Brill Publishers|Brill]],  {{ISBN|978-90-474-0484-2}} pp. 6–7, 63–33</ref> [[Didymus Chalcenterus|Didymus]] mentions another tomb in Thrace.<ref>Canfora (2006). p. 8</ref>

Thucydides's narrative breaks off in the middle of the year 411 BC, and this abrupt end has traditionally been explained as due to his death while writing the book, although other explanations have been put forward.

[[File:Pericles Pio-Clementino Inv269 n3.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Bust of [[Pericles]]]]
During his description of the [[Athenian plague]], he remarks that old Athenians seemed to remember a verse predicting a Dorian War that would bring about a "plague"  (''loimos'')  {{lang|grc|λοιμός}}.<ref>“ἥξει Δωριακὸς πόλεμος καὶ λοιμὸς ἅμ᾽ αὐτῷ.’ 2:54.2</ref> A dispute later arose, when some claimed that the saying referred to the advent in such a war of "famine" or "starvation" (''limos'') {{lang|grc|λιμός}}. Thucydides draws the conclusion that people adapt their recollections to their present state of suffering. Were the same situation to recur, but with people experiencing famine  rather than a pestilence, the verse would be remembered differently, in terms of starvation (''limos''), thereby cancelling the received adage about a plague (''loimos'').<ref>Thucydides, ''Peloponessian War,'' 2:54:2-3</ref><ref>Lowell Edmunds, 'Thucydides in the Act of Writing,' in Jeffrey S. Rusten  (ed.),  ''Thucydides,'' [[Oxford University Press]] 2009 {{isbn|978-0-199-20619-3}} pp.91–113, p.111</ref>

Thucydides admired [[Pericles]], approving of his power over the people and showing a marked distaste for the [[demagogue]]s who followed him. He did not approve of the democratic commoners nor of the radical democracy that Pericles ushered in, but considered democracy acceptable when guided by a good leader.<ref>{{Thucydides|en|2|65|1|shortref}}</ref> Thucydides's presentation of events is generally even-handed; for example, he does not minimize the negative effect of his own failure at [[Battle of Amphipolis|Amphipolis]]. Occasionally, however, strong passions break through, as in his scathing appraisals of the democratic leaders [[Cleon]]<ref>{{Thucydides|en|3|36|6|shortref}}</ref><ref>{{Thucydides|en|4|27|shortref}}, {{Thucydides|en|5|16|1}}</ref> and [[Hyperbolus]].<ref>{{Thucydides|en|8|73|3|shortref}}</ref> Sometimes, Cleon has been connected with Thucydides's exile.<ref>[[Marcellinus (writer)|Marcellinus]], ''Life of Thucydides'' 46</ref>

It has been argued that Thucydides was moved by the suffering inherent in war and concerned about the excesses to which human nature is prone in such circumstances, as in his analysis of the atrocities committed during the civil conflict on [[Corcyra]],<ref>{{Thucydides|en|3|82|shortref}}–83</ref> which includes the phrase "war is a violent teacher" ({{lang|grc|πόλεμος βίαιος διδάσκαλος}}).