VOLUME 39 JANUARY, 1965 NUMBER 2 The Eta Sigma Phi Scholarships MI •V Chapter advisers and officers are re­ •i quested to bring the Eta Sigma Phi in i-TVT-r—i- "..•.--'llf scholarships to the attention of grad­ «!.' uating seniors and alumni who have '-7-v . received their degree since January : 1960 and are now teaching or inter­ ii*C^ ested in teaching. There will be two scholarships again this year, one to the American Academy in Rome with a value of $450.00 and the other to the American School of Classical Stud­ ies at Athens with a value of $550.00, each of which is to be used to attend the summer sessions of 1965. Appli­ cations must be submitted to Professor William H. Willis, Chairman of the Committee on Scholarships, Depart­ ment of Classical Studies, Duke Uni­ versity, Durham, North Carolina 27706 by 31 January 1965. Application blanks have been supplied to each chapter and General view of the Roman Forum additional ones and further informa­ tion about the scholarships may be ob­ tained from the Executive Secretary. Reflections on Rome by ROBERT KARL BOHM The Eta Sigma Phi Eta Sigma Phi Scholar Contests American Academy in Rome, 1964 The Eta Sigma Phi Contests will be Visitors can readily sense the appro­ arises the magnificence of the Empire. given again this year as in the past. priateness of the epithet 'eternal' for Though the emperor desert the city for The subject for the Annual Essay Con­ the city of Rome, mother of western the East, a bishop suddenly stands test has not been announced as yet but civilization, mistress of scholars and quite adequately in his place and boldly it is expected to be circulated among artists, maid of honor to the Church. confronts the barbarians at the very the chapters in the very near future. Eternity, however, can be understood gates of the city. The ancient poets The Executive Secretary regrets his de­ in two different ways. In Plato's and thinkers die but are strangely res­ lay in making this announcement this thought eternity, whose moving image urrected in the ideas and phrases of year, especially since he is responsible is time, is a static and frozen condition century scattered generations. The for the lateness in this matter. In addi­ like the eternal life on Keats' Grecian bronze in the roof before the great tion to the Twentieth Annual Essay urn. Greece, in fact, with its timeless dome of the Pantheon is torn down Contest there will be the Fifth Annual ideals and durationlesS abstractions, en­ only to rise again beneath a new dome Greek Prose Composition Contest, Six­ joys this kind of eternity of timeless- and to flank the altar of the new di­ teenth Annual Greek Translation ness. Rome, with her stress on the vinity where, molded by Bernini's mus­ Contest, Fifteenth Annual Latin Trans­ practical rather than the transcendent, cular touch, it unifies in its spirals both lation Contest, and the Chapter Foreign lives in the other kind of eternity: time the vertical lines and the dome's sweep­ Language Census. Participation in the without end, limitless duration. ing curves at Saint Peter's in the contests has been smaller each year in There is some inner vitality in the Vatican. recent years, which is disappointing. city of seven hills that makes it im­ The whimsical visitor to the Colos­ All chapters are urged to take part in mortal. The Republic may die in war seum must grin when he sees that the contests this year. and blood shed, but from the ashes (Continued on page 12) 10 NUNTIUS precise, methodical manner Thucydides Prize Winning Essay, described the plague, its symptoms, causes, course and demoralization so Nineteenth Annual that "it might be recognized if it should ever break out again." (2.47) Thucy­ Essay Contest •--, s dides seems to have looked on war as - ,AT some type of plague also; he felt that if war were ever to be controlled, it The Attitudes of must be rationally described in all its details, its causes and its effects. Thucydides and Livy It is in the individual character, deep Toward War in human nature, where the true cause of the Peloponnesian War, of any war, by lies, according to Thucydides. He real­ JOLIE SlEBOLD ized that prestige and power arouse man's innate desire for more; this in­ (Jolie Siebold of Brookfield, Wiscon­ a universal level. The meaning of each satiable hunger drives him blindly un­ sin, is a sophomore at Mount Mary event of the war, recounted with exact­ til he destroys himself. Thucydides College and a member of Beta Omicron ing precision, shows what war is, what applied this principle to Athens of the Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi. Her majors it does to man, and what it will con­ Fifth Century. After driving back the are Classics and English. She is on the tinue to do unless man changes. His Persians, Athens had turned the Delian staff of the QUARTERLY, a literary HISTORY is actually a treatise on the League into the Athenian Empire, de­ publication, and secretary of the Soph­ causes and effects of war. manding tribute and unwavering alle­ omore Class. It is her plan to do grad­ giance from her subjects. Athens had uate work in Latin and then become a If Thucydides' interpretations are power and was compelled to risk all teacher.) accepts, his credentials as a war his­ to obtain more. As Thucydides wrote: torian must be valid also. One might "It was the growth of power of Athens Thucydides, a fifth century Athen­ think a writer of his immense talents and the alarm which this inspired in ian, lived during the apex of Athens' would not have had first-hand war ex­ Lacedaemon which made war inevita­ success and power. He saw the estab­ perience. Far from being an "armchair ble." (1.23.6) lishment and extension of her imperial general," however, Thucydides was a democracy. Although he had the same commander of an Athenian fleet. After After defining the cause of the war, ideals as other empire builders, he was years of faithful service he was exiled Thucydides graphically depicted its too young to have them instinctively. for failing to repulse Brasidas. from ravaging effects on Athens and her in­ He was a thoughtful man, an inde­ Amphipolis, a near-impossible task. He dividual citizens. He believed that war pendent thinker. The shiny baubles of was then free to extract himself from disintegrates the moral fiber of the peo­ Athenian material prosperity did not the Athens-Sparta struggle, watch it ple involved; the awful descent of a blind him to the oppression and rest­ from an impartial vantage point, study highly civilized nation into the depths lessness of the Athenian empire; even it objectively, and record it while it was of cruelty is a major theme of his HIS­ the presence of great thinkers and ar­ happening. TORY. He wrote of Athens, once the tists such as Socrates, Anaxagoras and Thucydides' viewpoint was a purely champion of democracy, sending a force Phidias did not turn his thoughts from to slaughter the men and enslave the Sparta's jealousy. Thucydides felt the scientific and intelligent one. He saw the Peloponnesian War as a problem women and children of Mytilene after tension growing higher and higher that island revolted. In debate an toward inevitable war. Little did for the intellect to solve and considered it his duty to state the facts rationally Athenian leader warned his country­ Thucydides know, however, how fast men not to be misled by piety, discus­ and hard Athens would fall, aborting without judging them. Explanations due to the supernatural, divine wrath, sion and fair dealing, just recently her chance to dominate a civilization touchstones of Athenian democracy. again. and standards of right and wrong are not found in his HISTORY. Rather Perhaps the most damning indict­ Even before the Peloponnesian War he discovered the historical necessity of ment of war is to be found in the broke out Thucydides suspected it the crisis to which the development oi Melian dialogue. Thucydides depicted would be the greatest war ever waged. Greece had led. Inspired by this politi­ the discussion between the Melians, He decided then to write a history of cal and scientific attitude, Thucydides neutral for seven centuries and intent that momentous civil war so that man transferred history, until then the in­ on remaining so, and the Athenian might profit from knowing the causes vestigation of an unchanging object, to delegates, expounding their theory of and effects of the struggle. Realizing politics, giving a deeper meaning to the "might makes right" and equally intent that human nature never changes, he search for truth. With Thucydides, on Melos' submission. The Athenians wrote his HISTORY as a warning. then, political thinking became histor­ emphasized their theory that the strong Thucydides wrote not for the moment, ical. He was the first critical historian, must rule and the weak obey, that ex­ but for all time. He meant his volume replacing tradition with original ideas pedience and prudence override justice to be a lasting possession, not for per­ about power and war. and honor. The Melians represented sonal fame, but for the permanent the lost cause of traditional ideals while value of its lessons. Thucydides attacked the situation like a true scientist. In his second book the Athenians stood for the drunken Thucydides' HISTORY has signifi­ he recounted the plague that ravaged power of a tyrant intolerable of even cance today because he was able, from Athens during the second year of the a tiny island neutral in her midst.