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This chapter offers a reading of Thucydides’ Mytilenean debate, which unfolds at two seemingly disconnected levels: an exchange between Cleon and Diodotus over how to treat Mytilene, a rebellious Athenian ally, and an argument over the Athenians’ practices of public deliberation in the Assembly. The chapter argues that both strands of the debate ultimately hinge on the problem of assessing aitia - questions of responsibility, cause, and blame. Cleon promises the Athenians that assessments of responsibility are simple and transparent, and that policy and action will follow directly from such assessments. Diodotus offers in exchange a more complicated view. He points to limitations on political actors’ abilities to assess responsibility and act on such assessments in both domestic politics and in foreign affairs. As Diodotus stresses, however, a vision of politics where assessments of aitia are de-emphasized is in tension with the Athenian commitment to holding orators accountable for their advice. Looking to Athens’ conduct later in the war, the chapter argues that the Athenians may not ultimately accept Diodotus’ vision of a prudent city, one that recognizes the limits of the politics of responsibility and accountability, even if his motion carries the day in the debate over Mytilene’s fate.

This chapter examines two Athenian speeches on opposite sides of an issue: how to treat the Mytileneans who revolted trying to seek greater freedom from Athens. In his speech, Cleon denounces the defects of democracy and argues that Mytilene should be punished. Diodotus insists that the Athenians should consider what treatment of Mytilene will be to their advantage in dealing with future revolts. The chapter first discusses the debate in Athens concerning Mytilene before describing the events surrounding the fall of Plataea to the Spartans and their allies. It then compares the ways that Sparta treats the fallen city of Plataea with how Athens treats Mytilene, highlighting the ambiguities in Athens's treatment of Mytilene and Plataea. It also explores Diodotus's account of the power of the passions and Thucydides's portrayal of Diodotus in which he illustrates a politics cognizant of both the advantageous and the just, ennobled by the generosity or liberality that Pericles presented as a defining feature of Athens's excellence.