Thucydides
When He Only Counts Strength
Being right does not mean anyone will act for you
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 5 (the Melian Dialogue)
The other side says outright that only strength counts, not who is right. What do you hold then, and what should you not bet on?
What actually happened?
In 416 BC an Athenian fleet anchored off the small island of Melos and demanded that it pay tribute and submit. The Melians wanted to stay neutral. At the table the Athenians set the terms first: right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power. The Melians answered that they trusted the gods, and trusted Sparta to come. Sparta never came. After a siege, with some treachery inside, Melos surrendered. The men were put to death, the women and children sold as slaves.
Find out what currency they deal in
The Athenians did not pretend to argue about justice; they said at once that they counted only power. It is a rare candour. If the other side tells you what it counts, do not pay in a different coin. A pile of 'ought' will be heard as noise.
The other company looks only at the contract and whether you can cut supply. You keep saying 'we have worked together for years.' That does not appear on their books.
Count what you hold, not what you hope will arrive
The Melians held three things: the gods would favour them, Sparta would come, and luck would turn. None of them was in Melian hands. The Athenians put it harshly but accurately: hope comforts those with something to spare, and ruins those who put everything on it.
'Head office will surely rescue us.' 'If we hold on, clients will return.' Ask: has anyone actually promised you anything behind that sentence?
Settle what can be settled while you still choose
The Athenians offered a way out: pay tribute and keep the city. The Melians thought that was surrendering first, and refused. But it was the Melians who were killed and sold, not the phrase 'we are free.' Which comes first, face or city, has to be decided while there is still a choice.
The terms are galling, but they would save a dozen jobs on your team. Do not answer them with 'am I angry' alone.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: the other side has said that only strength counts, and you have kept making your case, with less and less effect.
Ask first: what do they count? What do I actually hold? Has anyone I am waiting for told me they will come?
Where it goes wrong: reading the Athenians' line as licence to bully. Thucydides wrote it for them shortly before their disaster in Sicily. He sets it down not to endorse it but to show where it leads. You read it to see the person across the table, not to copy him.
Lines to keep
the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
Hope, danger’s comforter, may be indulged in by those who have abundant resources
Same situation, other people are asking
Do I fight the way he fights?They hold every card and reasoning with them changes nothing.They came at me hard. Is the thing that set them off even true?He's attacking me and I want to answer with facts.Someone is being unreasonable · all 8 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.