“I Have Set Out First the Grievances and Disputes:” Greek International Law in Thucydides

Abstract

One of the founding fathers of modern international law, Hugo Grotius, cited Thucydides at the very beginning of his epoch-making work De iure belli ac pacis of 1625. Grotius drew extensively on ancient texts in order to create what is today considered the first comprehensive account of international law. However, Grotius does not cite Thucydides for additional evidence in proving the existence of international law. On the contrary, he calls upon him as a key witness against all those colleagues who deny an ius inter populos (this is how he described “international law”). Thucydides is quoted by Grotius as saying regi aut civitati imperium habenti nihil iniustum quod utile (“nothing is unjust what is useful to the King or an imperial power”). This, however, is a slightly accurate Latin translation of the corresponding Thucydidean sentence: andri de turannōi ij polei archijn echousiji ouden alogon hoti xumpheron (6.85.1). Grotius thus equates alogon (“unreasonable”) with iniustum (“unjust”), whereas the Thucydidean adikon would surely have been more suitable for his purposes.¹

The quote is 1.23.5: tas aitias prougrapsa prōton kai tas diaphoras.