Le arringhe dei Generali alle truppe fra retorica e realtà

Since war is the dominant subject matter in ancient Historiography, the general's speech to his men before battle is attested in almost all historians. The aim of the work was the study of the commander exhortations before the battle in Thucydides. Particular attention was devoted to the exhortations by two commanders during the Peloponnesian War: Brasidas, from Sparta, and Demosthenes, from Athens. The scope was to investigate what arguments they used in order to spurring the troops in the battle with audacity. Fact or Fiction? Thucydides had been a general himself. The speeches which he puts into generals' mouths before battle are not rhetorical invention. They keep as close as possible to the total sense of what was truly said on these occasions. Brasidas may have been among the informants from whom Thucydides derived material for the narrative on event and for the battle exhortation to his army. The speech of Demosthenes before the battle reflect the point of view of Thucydides concerning both expedition of Pylos and ambiguous role played by the general in that occasion.