Θουκυδίδης Ἀθηναῖος ξυνέγραψε τὸν πόλεμον τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων , ὡς ἐπολέμησαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους , ἀρξάμενος εὐθὺς καθισταμένου καὶ ἐλπίσας μέγαν τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων , τεκμαιρόμενος ὅτι ἀκμάζοντές τε ᾖσαν ἐς αὐτὸν ἀμφότεροι παρασκευῇ τῇ πάσῃ καὶ τὸ ἄλλο Ἑλληνικὸν ὁρῶν ξυνιστάμενον πρὸς ἑκατέρους , τὸ μὲν εὐθύς , τὸ δὲ καὶ διανοούμενον . [ 2 ] κίνησις γὰρ αὕτη μεγίστη δὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο καὶ μέρει τινὶ τῶν βαρβάρων , ὡς δὲ εἰπεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀνθρώπων . [ 3 ] τὰ γὰρ πρὸ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἔτι παλαίτερα σαφῶς μὲν εὑρεῖν διὰ χρόνου πλῆθος ἀδύνατα ἦν , ἐκ δὲ τεκμηρίων ὧν ἐπὶ μακρότατον σκοποῦντί μοι πιστεῦσαι ξυμβαίνει οὐ μεγάλα νομίζω γενέσθαι οὔτε κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους οὔτε ἐς τὰ ἄλλα .

Thucydides , an Athenian , wrote the war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians as they warred against each other , beginning to write as soon as the war was on foot , with expectation it should prove a great one and most worthy the relation of all that had been before it ; conjecturing so much both from this , that they flourished on both sides in all manner of provision , and also because he saw the rest of Greece siding with the one or the other faction , some then presently and some intending so to do . [ 2 ] For this was certainly the greatest commotion that ever happened among the Grecians , reaching also to part of the barbarians and , as a man may say , to most nations . [ 3 ] For the actions that preceded this and those again that are yet more ancient , though the truth of them through length of time cannot by any means clearly be discovered , yet for any argument that , looking into times far past , I have yet light on to persuade me , I do not think they have been very great , either for matter of war or otherwise .

Thucydides , an Athenian , wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians , beginning at the moment that it broke out , and believing that it would be a great war , and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it . This belief was not without its grounds . The preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of perfection ; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel ; those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation . [ 2 ] Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known in history , not only of the Hellenes , but of a large part of the barbarian world—I had almost said of mankind . [ 3 ] For though the events of remote antiquity , and even those that more immediately precede the war , could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained , yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me to trust , all point to the conclusion that there was nothing on a great scale , either in war or in other matters .