Herodotus and Caeser observers the political and ethical ramifications
of wars in their contemplation into history. In, Xerxes Invades Greece, Herodotus
revolves around the conflict among Persia, Greek, and Romans and the themes
that prevail are power, greed, honor, and revenge. While all can contribute to
the reasons for conflict, power shows itself as the strongest and most
comprehensive. This is mainly because, in Herodotus narration, other motives
contribute to one single motive, power, portraying it as the most prominent
reason for human conflict. On the other hand, Julies Caesar gives an equal
amount of importance to freedom and power.
Herodotus portrays power as the single most incentive drive that bears
human conflict. In the first few paragraphs of Heredotious narration into Xerxes
Invades Greece Xerces voices his convictions about why they should
wage war and expand their expedition against Athens. One of the motives he
touches upon is vengeance, “thereby I may obtain vengeance from the Athenians
for the wrongs committed by them against the Persians and against my father”
(Halsall, August 2000). However, vengeance is not the king’s motive, the core reason
why he seeks revenge stems from his implacable desire to augment the power of
Persians. He asserts that “I may rival those who have preceded me in this post
of honor, and increase the power of Persia as much as any of them” (Halsall,
August 2000) meaning he strives to transcend the achievements of his
predecessors, and to do so he contemplates and finds going into war the
fittest. Therefore, although Xerxes remarks that vengeance is one of his
reasons, the true reason lies in his desire to acquire more power. This goes to
illustrate that Heredotious depicts patriarchy, greed for wealth/land, and
honor, alas, Heredotious’ narration also unveils that power is what binds them
all. All these motives contribute to power.
What is more, the power Xerxes values is not solely about expanding
its nation's lands, it is also about the Persian’s political power. Artabanus tries
to employ a wiser approach to Xerxes brute force-driven plan but his argument
fails. “Artabanus fearfully states that “Again, hurry always brings about
disasters, from which huge sufferings are wont to arise; but in delay lie many
advantages, not apparent (it may be) at first sight, but such as in course of
time are seen of all. wisdom lacks but why?” (Halsall, August 2000) And
Heredotious narrates “Artabanus loses the argument, and Xerxes prepares to
invade Greece” (Halsall, August 2000). Although Herodotus does not provide a
reason why or how his argument is refuted, it can be inferred that Xerxes
values sustaining a powerful image more than securing a win. Anything
distorting that image musters the utmost vengeance and anything that reinforces
it is an absolute must. This is mainly because even though Xerxes revolves
around the idea of dominating Europe, Herodotus’ obscure narration of how Artabanus
argument is refuted so easily implies that Xerxes didn’t even listen to him.
Consequently, this means that Xerxes prefers losing the battle and meeting his
demise to backing off and losing his powerful image and honor. This denotes
that Xerxes is not merely searching for materialistic achievements, Herodotus narration
unveils that loots plundered in a war or conquered lands only signifies the
power of the nation and that is why they are important. However, what carries
the utmost importance is acquiring power which means the search for power is
the primary source of human conflict.
On the other hand, Herodotus also touches upon other motives that are
not necessarily pertinent to power. Tom Holland mentions that Herodotus’ narration
sometimes presents itself to be one-sided and this may cause him to be
considered as a “greek lover” Tom holland says “Herodotus is really playing off
the idea of the Greeks as the defenders of the freedom whereas Persians as the
slaves, they have to be wiped to the front” (Tom Holland on Herodotus'
Histories, 2014). Tom Holland’s remark implies that the demeanors of
individuals change in accordance with their nations. This explains why Persians
were afraid to voice their ideas in front of Xerxes Greeks “the other Persians were
silent; all feared to raise their voice against the plan proposed to them. This
example bolsters Holland’s observation on Herodotus depiction of Persians, they
are sheepishly following orders. Furthermore, Xerxes prefers to lose the battle
to retreat. On the other hand, In the verge of war, the Greeks consider
retreating “The Greek forces at Thermopylae, when the Persian army drew near to
the entrance of the pass, were seized with fear; and a council was held to
consider about a retreat” (Halsall, August 2000). and asking for help. This
goes to allude to the idea that Greek valued freedom and winning the war more
than sustaining their powerful image which proves that human conflict differs
in Herodotus narration, and one of the reasons for it is freedom.
Julies Caesar draws the search for power and the urge to preserve
freedom as two main motives for human conflict. Caesar in his The
Gallic Wars starts his narration with an image where two clusters of
communities, Gauls and Belgae were forming a unity against the Roman people. Caesar
states that such an attempt of confederacy stems from their fear that they are
going to be attacked, “because they feared that, after all [Celtic], Gaul was
subdued, our army would be led against them (McDevitte and Bohn, p.1) “and also
they wanted Germans to be banished from their territory. Caesar observation of
their motives signifies one of the reasons that people find worthy fighting for,
freedom. In other words, the reason Gauls and Belgae engage in a confederacy is
to preserve their freedom and in order to protect it, they are ready to wage
war. On the other hand, the Roman empire is waging war to control and conquer
Gauls and Belgae and subject them under its dominion. This unveils that the
reasons for conflict may present themselves as either power or freedom which
are inevitably woven into each other. To put it simply, Caesar portrays the
Roman Empire’s search for power as a reason for conflict, and he also depicts
freedom as a motive for conflict.
In conclusion, Caesar and Herodotus contemplation into history unveils
that power is one of the most common motives for men to wage war. Caeser takes
a closer look at freedom and power. In the conflict between Gaul and Roman
Empire what is most prevailing is Gaul’s attempt to sustain their freedom,
while Roman’s implacable chase for asserting their dominance, and establishing
an order with which they can control them. In addition, Herodotus’ articulation
on Xerxes reveals that the most prominent impetus for human conflict is power. Herodotus
presents many motives that can contribute to human conflict but all those
motives such as honor and revenge are only entailed to the pursuit of acquiring
power.
Holland, Tom. 'Tom Holland on Herodotus' Histories.'
YouTube, uploaded by the Hay Festival, 11 December 2014, .
Caesar, Julius. Commentaries
on the Gallic Wars, book 2. Translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn,
The Internet Classics Archive, classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.2.2.html. Copy
the URL to access this source.
Herodotus. 'Xerxes
Invades Greece.' The Histories. Internet Ancient History Sourcebook,
www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/herodotus-xerxes.asp. Copy the URL to access
this source
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