Clássicos Subversivos

(cruzar com este post, a propósito do qual ler, já agora, este)
Metaxas [o ditador grego do Regime do 4 de Agosto (1936-41)] had been promoting ancient drama in the form of mass open-air spectacles, and he had received the public endorsement of writers such as Yeorgios Theotokas, a politically moderate intellectual, and others with more onservative political agendas who stressed the value of classical literature. Under Metaxas, too, the chauvinist presumption grew that revivals of classical tragedy had to uphold this treasured legacy of Greece's national, 'monumental' poetry. Metaxas further subjected theatre to state censorship and control of thought. He tried to ban, in particular, a National Theatre production of Sophocles' Antigone, because the heroine proclaimed disobedience to the self-serving laws of tyranny. Unable to cancel te scheduled performances, the government had certain 'inappropriate' lines cut from the script (Hamlakis 2007: 178; Van Steen 2001: 141). [n. 14]

[nota 14:] Metaxas also excluded the famous Funeral Oration of Pericles from school readings of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War (2.34-47). The dictator did not want the new Hellenic generation to be brought up with the ideals of freedom and democracy as expounded by the ancient Greeks:

In the teaching of ancient Greek in the 6th High School grade, omit the funeral oration of Pericles, substituting this with some Platonic dialogue, because the funeral oration, truthfully grand of democratic ideas, may be misunderstood by the students as indirect criticism of the vigorous governmental policy and, in general, of the trend of the present State... [T]here exists the probability that these pages will produce the same ruinous and disintegrating results that they did during the period of the Peloponnesian War, when they were recited to the unstable populace of Athens by the great Pericles, who presented so brilliantly the victories of democracy to the intellectually unprepared Athenian rabble... [excerto da directiva estatal da autoria de D. Papoulias mas em nome de Metaxas].  

Gonda Van Steen, Theatre of the Condemned. 

Classical Tragedy on Greek Prison Islands. Oxford 2011: 43-44.

Estado de Excepção

When in answer to his question they all acknowledged that they could see no other hope, Peisander went on to present the with the stark conclusion. 'Well,' he said, 'this is not going to happen unless we win the King's trust by adopting a more prudent form of government and restricting eligibility for office to a selected few; unless we concentrate now on survival rather than the constitution (we can always change things later, if there is anything we do not like); and unless we bring back Alcibiades, who is the only man alive who can make this happen'.

[ὁπότε δὲ μὴ φαῖεν ἐρωτώμενοι, ἐνταῦθα δὴ σαφῶς ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι ‘τοῦτο τοίνυν οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι, εἰ μὴ πολιτεύσομεν τε σωφρονέςτερον καὶ ἐς ὀλίγους μᾶλλον τὰς ἀρχὰς ποιήσομεν, ἵνα πιστεύῃ ἡμῖν βασιλεύς, καὶ μὴ περὶ πολιτείας τὸ πλέον βουλεύσομεν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἢ περὶ σωτηρίας (ὕστερον γὰρ ἐξέσται ἡμῖν καὶ μεταθέσθαι, ἢν μή τι ἀρέσκῃ), Ἀλκιβιάδην τε κατάξομεν, ὃς μόνος τῶν νῦν οἷός τε τοῦτο κατεργάσασθαι.’]

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VIII.53

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

The Horror, The Horror

Thereafter, when Nicias and Demosthenes thought their preparations complete, the army at last began its departure on the third day from the sea-battle. The pity of it was not only the fact that they were retreating after the loss of their entire fleet, and with those high hopes now turned to imminent danger both for themselves and the city of Athens, but in the very act of leaving the camp every man had to endure painful and heart-rending sights. The dead bodies were unburied, and to see a friend lying there brought distress and fear at the same time in equal measure. The living who were being left behind - the wounded and the sick - were much more distressing even than the dead to their living comrades, and in more pitiful state than those who had been killed. The cries of entreaty they started up ('take us with you') reduced the others to despair. They would call out for help to every friend or relative they could see; they clung to their tent-mates even as they moved off, and followed as far as they could; when strenght and body failed them they fell back with anguished groans and a stream of curses. So the whole army was in tears, and this despairing pity made it hard for them to move out, even though it was a move from enemy country where they had suffered disasters too great for tears already, and were in fear of suffering more in an uncertain future.

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VII.75 

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

[Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο, ἐπειδὴ ἐδόκει τῷ Νικίᾳ καὶ τῷ Δημοσθένει ἱκανῶς παρεσκευάσθαι, καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις ἤδη τοῦ στρατεύματος τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπὸ τῆς ναυμαχίας ἐγίγνετο. δεινὸν οὖν ἦν οὐ καθ' ἓν μόνον τῶν πραγμάτων, ὅτι τάς τε ναῦς ἀπολωλεκότες πάσας ἀπεχώρουν καὶ ἀντὶ μεγάλης ἐλπίδος καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ ἡ πόλις κινδυνεύοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀπολείψει τοῦ στρατοπέδου ξυνέβαινε τῇ τε ὄψει ἑκάστῳ ἀλγεινὰ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ αἰσθέσθαι. τῶν τε γὰρ νεκρῶν ἀτάφων ὄντων, ὁπότε τις ἴδοι τινὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων κείμενον, ἐς λύπην μετὰ φόβου καθίστατο, καὶ οἱ ζῶντες καταλειπόμενοι τραυματίαι τε καὶ ἀσθενεῖς πολὺ τῶν τεθνεώτων τοῖς ζῶσι λυπηρότεροι ἦσαν καὶ τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἀθλιώτεροι. πρὸς γὰρ ἀντιβολίαν καὶ ὀλοφυρμὸν τραπόμενοι ἐς ἀπορίαν καθίστασαν, ἄγειν τε σφᾶς ἀξιοῦντες καὶ ἕνα ἕκαστον ἐπιβοώμενοι, εἴ τινά πού τις ἴδοι ἢ ἑταίρων ἢ οἰκείων, τῶν τε ξυσκήνων ἤδη ἀπιόντων ἐκκρεμαννύμενοι καὶ ἐπακολουθοῦντες ἐς ὅσον δύναιντο, εἴ τῳ δὲ προλίποι ἡ ῥώμη καὶ τὸ σῶμα, οὐκ ἄνευ ὀλίγων ἐπιθειασμῶν καὶ οἰμωγῆς ὑπολειπόμενοι, ὥστε δάκρυσι πᾶν τὸ στράτευμα πλησθὲν καὶ ἀπορίᾳ τοιαύτῃ μὴ ῥᾳδίως ἀφορμᾶσθαι, καίπερ ἐκ πολεμίας τε καὶ μείζω ἢ κατὰ δάκρυα τὰ μὲν πεπονθότας ἤδη, τὰ δὲ περὶ τῶν ἐν ἀφανεῖ δεδιότας μὴ πάθωσιν.]

Tucídides Cansado de Discursos

He [Nicias] appealed again to each of the trierarchs, calling them by their father's name, by their own name, by the name of their tribe; he urged those who had claim to distinction on their own account not to betray that claim and those with famous ancestors to mantain their family honours untarnished; he reminded them of their fatherland, the freest country there was, where every man could live his life in unregimented liberty; and he continued in the vein familiar at such moments of crisis, when men do not try to avoid the impression of conventional language (such as the standard references on all ocasions to 'our wives and children and the gods of our fathers') but invoke what they think could be helpful at a time of distress.

[αὖθις τῶν τριηράρχων ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀνεκάλει, πατρόθεν τε ἐπονομάζων καὶ αὐτοὺς ὀνομαστὶ καὶ φυλήν, ἀξιῶν τό τε καθ' ἑαυτόν, ᾧ ὑπῆρχε λαμπρότητός τι, μὴ προδιδόναι τινὰ καὶ τὰς πατρικὰς ἀρετάς, ὧν ἐπιφανεῖς ἦσαν οἱ πρόγονοι, μὴ ἀφανίζειν, πατρίδος τε τῆς ἐλευθερωτάτης ὑπομιμνῄσκων καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ ἀνεπιτάκτου πᾶσιν ἐς τὴν δίαιταν ἐξουσίας, ἄλλα τε λέγων ὅσα ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ ἤδη τοῦ καιροῦ ὄντες ἄνθρωποι οὐ πρὸς τὸ δοκεῖν τινὶ ἀρχαιολογεῖν φυλαξάμενοι εἴποιεν ἄν, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων παραπλήσια ἔς τε γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας καὶ θεοὺς πατρῴους προφερόμενα, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῇ παρούσῃ ἐκπλήξει ὠφέλιμα νομίζοντες ἐπιβοῶνται.] 

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VII.69

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

Realpolitik

There was now gathered in contention for Syracuse what was certainly the largest number of nations ever to converge on a single city, a number only exceeded by the full tally of those involved in this war for or against the cities of Athens and Sparta. Here follows a list of the various nationalities who were there on either side to attack or defend Sicily and took part in the war over Syracuse. They had come to share either in the conquest of the country or in its rescue, but their particular alignment was not determined by any justifying cause or kindred loyalty so much as by purely contingent factors of self-interest or compulsion. 

[ἔθνη γὰρ πλεῖστα δὴ ἐπὶ μίαν πόλιν ταύτην ξυνῆλθε, πλήν γε δὴ τοῦ ξύμπαντος λόγου τοῦ ἐν τῷδε τῷ πολέμῳ πρὸς τὴν Ἀθηναίων τε πόλιν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων.Τοσοίδε γὰρ ἑκάτεροι ἐπὶ Σικελίαν τε καὶ περὶ Σικελίας, τοῖς μὲν ξυγκτησόμενοι τὴν χώραν ἐλθόντες, τοῖς δὲ ξυνδιασώσοντες, ἐπὶ Συρακούσας ἐπολέμησαν, οὐ κατὰ δίκην τι μᾶλλον οὐδὲ κατὰ ξυγγένειαν μετ' ἀλλήλων στάντες, ἀλλ'ὡς ἑκάστοις τῆς ξυντυχίας ἢ κατὰ τὸ ξυμφέρον ἢ ἀνάγκῃ ἔσχεν.]

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VII.56-7 

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

La Liberté Guidant Le Peuple

This was also the time of the revolution in Samos, when the people rose up against the men in power, helped by the Athenians from the three ships which they had there at the time. The Samian people killed in all up to two hundred of the most powerful men, condemn another four hundred to exile, and distributed their land and houses among themselves [...]. Among other measures, they withdrew all civic rights from the former landowners and prohibited any future marriage alliances, bride or groom, between them and the people or the people and them. 

[Ἐγένετο δὲ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον καὶ ἡ ἐν Σάμῳ ἐπανάστασις ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τοῖς δυνατοῖς μετὰ Ἀθηναίων, οἳ ἔτυχον ἐν τρισὶ ναυσὶ παρόντες. καὶ ὁ δῆμος ὁ Σαμίων ἐς διακοσίους μέν τινας τοὺς πάντας τῶν δυνατωτάτων ἀπέκτεινε, τετρακοσίους δὲ φυγῇ ζημιώσαντες καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν καὶ οἰκίας νειμάμενοι, Ἀθηναίων τε σφίσιν αὐτονομίαν μετὰ ταῦτα ὡς βεβαίοις ἤδη ψηφισαμένων, τὰ λοιπὰ διῴκουν τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοῖς γεωμόροις μετεδίδοσαν οὔτε ἄλλου οὐδενὸς οὔτε ἐκδοῦναι οὐδ' ἀγαγέσθαι παρ' ἐκείνων οὐδ' ἐς ἐκείνους οὐδενὶ ἔτι τοῦ δήμου ἐξῆν.]

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VIII.21 

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

Filosofia Política Clássica vs Moderna V

"My conclusion is this: to my mind, a city which has never believed in quiet will very quickly go under if it makes the change to quiescence, and the greatest security in national life is when people deviate least from their traditional character and practice, whatever its faults". Such was Alcibiades' speech.    

[παράπαν τε γιγνώσκω πόλιν μὴ ἀπράγμονα τάχιστ' ἄν μοι δοκεῖν ἀπραγμοσύνης μεταβολῇ διαφθαρῆναι, καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσφαλέστατα τούτους οἰκεῖν οἳ ἂν τοῖς παροῦσιν ἤθεσι καὶ νόμοις, ἢν καὶ χείρω ᾖ, ἥκιστα διαφόρως πολιτεύωσιν.’ Τοιαῦτα μὲν ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης εἶπεν·]

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VI.18

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

Disto depende também a modificação do bem; porque se um governa com cautela e paciência e os tempos e as coisas giram de modo que o seu governo seja bom, ele vai tendo sucesso; mas, se os tempos e as coisas se mudam, arruína-se, porque ele não muda o modo de proceder. E não se encontra homem tão prudente que se saiba acomodar a isto, seja porque não se pode desviar daquilo para que a natureza o inclina, seja também porque, tendo alguém prosperado sempre a caminhar por uma via, não se pode persuadi-lo de que seja bom sair dela. E por isso o homem cauteloso, quando para ele é tempo de passar à impetuosidade, não o sabe fazer e, daí, arruína-se; porque, se se mudasse de natureza com os tempos e com as coisas, não se mudaria de fortuna.

[Da questo ancora depende la variazione del bene, perché, se uno che si governa con respetti e pazienzia, e tempi e le cose girono in modo che il governo suo sia buono, e’ viene felicitando; ma se li tempi e le cose si mutano, e’ rovina perché non muta modo di procedere. Né si truova uomo sì prudente che si sappi accomodare a questo; sì perché non si può deviare da quello a che la natura lo inclina; si etiam perché, avendo sempre uno prosperato camminando per una via, non si può persuadere partirsi da quella. E però lo uomo respettivo, quando egli è tempo di venire allo impeto, non lo sa fare; donde e’ rovina: ché se si mutassi di natura con li tempi e con le cose, non si muterebbe fortuna.]

Maquiavel, O Príncipe 25.2 

Temas & Debates, Lisboa: 2008 (trad.: Diogo Pires Aurélio).

A Escola da Guerra

And indeed civil war did inflict great suffering on the cities of Greece. It happened then and will forever continue to happen, as long as human nature remains the same, with more or less severity and taking different forms as dictated by each new permutation of circumstances. In peace and prospereous times both states and individuals observe a higher morality, when there is no forced descent into hardship: but war, which removes the comforts of daily life, runs a violent school and in most men brings out passions that reflect their condition.

Tucídides, Guerra do Peloponeso III.82

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)

Hume on Thucydides

The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them, in a great measure, to the embellishment of poets and orators.

David Hume, Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary II.XI.98

Liberty Fund, Indianopolis: 1985.

The War That Never Ends

O vídeo acima é um pequeno excerto de The War That Never Ends, um telefilme (com a participação, inclusive, de Ben Kingsley) feito pela BBC, de 1991, a partir da peça homónima, de John Barton, por sua vez uma colagem de textos platónicos e, sobretudo, da História da Guerra do Peloponeso, de Tucídides, em jeito de telejornal, pelo qual se vai sabendo do adensar das hostilidades até ao estalar da guerra. Por esta descrição, é possível que pareça a alguns uma coisa extremamente aborrecida (quase como unicamente uma declamação dos textos), mas a verdade é que a montagem suscita a minha curiosidade. A coisa aparentemente nunca foi editada em vídeo, muito menos em DVD. Se alguém, porém, me puder pô-la nas mãos de alguma forma, fico agradecido.

Os Pais da História

(clicar sobre a imagem para ampliar

ou ir ao site ver in loco)

Pára Tudo:

A História da Guerra do Peloponeso de Tucídides, em tradução portuguesa, por Raul Rosado Fernandes e M. Gabriela P. Granwehr, vai ser lançada na loja do Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, dia 16 de de Dezembro, às 18h30.

Eu só tenho um comentário a fazer:

(vídeo roubado ao Miguel)

História da Guerra do Peloponeso por D. Kagan

September 1, 1939

September 1, 1939
W. D. Auden

[...]

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

[...]

[Auden's] modernist predecessors such as Yeats, Lawrence, Eliot or Pound, had turned nostalgically away from a flawed present to some lost illusory Eden where life was unified, hierarchy secure, and the grand style a natural extension of the vernacular. All of this Auden rejected. His continuing subject was the task of the present moment: erotic and political tasks in his early poems, ethical and religious ones later. When Auden looked back into history, it was to seek the causes of his present conditions, that he might act better and more effectively in the future. The past his poems envisioned was never a southern classical domain of unreflective elegance, as it was for the modernists, but a past that had always been ruined, a northern industrial landscape marred by the same violence and sorrow that marred his own. (Edward Mendelson, ed.)

WH Auden, Selected Poems, faber&faber (1979)