The Peloponnesian War

By Donald Kagan. Finished at last! Not quite a gripping read, but really very readable.
I was struck (and horrified) by this first exposure to ancient Greece. I don’t know why I should be surprised that there’s nothing new under the sun, but to find that the Athenian democracy was full of self-serving, violent, dishonest politicians who happened to be fantastic public speakers is disheartening. No wonder enlightened oligarchy continues to be such an attractive abstract ideal.
Now I’ll have to decide whether to continue on to Homer (never having read the Illiad) or to read the great dramatists (since they were contemporaries and participants in the war).