| Acknowledgments | |
| A Note on the Notes | |
| A Note on Narrative Style | |
| Introduction | 3 |
| Ch. 1 | Prologue: The Athenian Empire as Freely Chosen Project: Pericles' Funeral Oration | 15 |
| Ch. 2 | The Outbreak of the War and the Problem of Blame | 30 |
| The State of the Problem | 30 |
| "It Is Right..." "It Is Necessary..." | 38 |
| To the First Spartan Congress and the Speech of the Corinthian Envoys | 41 |
| Nature, Necessity, and Justice: The Speech of the Athenian Envoys at Sparta | 44 |
| The "Fifty Years" as a Commentary on the Athenian Speech | 50 |
| Unresolved Tensions in the Speech of the Athenians at Sparta | 53 |
| Through Spartan Eyes | 56 |
| Ch. 3 | Justice as Usual | 64 |
| Justice, Virtue, and the Duties of Alliance: The Speech of the Mytilenians at Olympia (3.9-14) | 64 |
| Plataea and Thebes | 70 |
| The Justice of Sparta and the Athenian Thesis | 75 |
| Ch. 4 | Piety and Necessity | 87 |
| Piety, Necessity, and the Athenian Thesis: The Delian Debate | 90 |
| Ch. 5 | The Melian Dialogue and the Fate of Melos | 97 |
| Why a Dialogue: Speech and Context (5.84-89) | 97 |
| Ought the Athenians Attack? (5.90-99) | 100 |
| Ought the Melians Resist? (5.100-113) | 103 |
| Spartan Neglect, Athenian Cruelty, Disaster in Sicily | 109 |
| The Envoys to Melos as Exponents of the Athenian Thesis | 111 |
| Ch. 6 | Melos and Syracuse | 118 |
| The Wisdom and Folly of Nicias | 118 |
| The Dialogue on Melos and the Mendacity of Euphemus | 126 |
| Athens and Mycalessus | 133 |
| The Folly and Wisdom of Nicias | 136 |
| Motive and Compulsion in the Sicilian Campaign | 139 |
| Ch. 7 | The Athenian Thesis Reconsidered: Diodotus and Hermocrates | 142 |
| The Mytilenian Debate | 142 |
| The Speech of Hermocrates at Gela | 163 |
| Ch. 8 | Domestic Politics | 172 |
| Plague | 173 |
| Stasis | 175 |
| Plague, Stasis, and the Periclean Vision | 182 |
| The Question of the Regime | 185 |
| Ch. 9 | Recapitulation and Conclusion: The Humanity of Thucydides | 193 |
| Appendix 1: Thucydides 1.22.1-3 | 207 |
| Appendix 2: Thucydides' Use of Prophasis at 1.23.5-6 | 213 |
| Appendix 3: Thucydides' Presentation of the Demand for the Repeal of the Megarian Decree | 215 |
| Bibliography | 217 |
| Index | 229 |
