Koinon Hellenon: Athens X Sparta (.org X TWCenter), a participative AAR - Athenai

[Paltmull]

I'm usually not interested in AAR's, but wow, this one's epic!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So..... while the Makedonians are massed around our walls are we to bicker over whose glory is to be the greatest? What remnants of glory will be left to us or the Spartans if our will is subordinate to the whims of a Makedonian King? Shall we bicker over the crumbs that are scattered for us? Shall we learn nothing from our shared history? Perhaps, then, we should replace the owl as our symbol - a symbol of strength and of wisdom - with that of a pigeon; strutting, preening stupidity, living off the scraps from greater beasts' kills.

I propose a party of Koinon Hellenon, whose symbol, Pegasus, is known to us all. Greek unity is where Athens' real greatness lies.

What should we learn from the previous wars between our great cities? What greatness did that conflict bring to us Greeks? What it did was weaken us. What it did was strip us of our finest men. What it did was turn us into barbarian savages, unworthy of our consideration of ourselves as the flowering of civilisation in its grandest form. What it did was allowed those barbarians from the North to strip us of our independence, our freedom.

I am for Athens, but I am for the Greeks. We, good men of Greece, must put aside these petty rivalries and work together. Athens will stand for nought unless it stands within its own power, but that power must be as part of a greater confederacy - of free Greek states, of free Greek men. While we turn toward each other and jab sticks at each other, the Makedonians will stand at our flank and jab spears at us. Our glory will come from our deeds, from the future results of our actions now. History will judge those who sought the appearance of glory over those who sought real Greek unity and success. Let us not repeat the errors of our past. Let us not fall into the power of barbarians because we cannot see or share our oneness as Greeks.

This does indeed all seem very honorable. However, on what basis can we expect the Spartans to show the same respect and modesty? While Athen's ideals will always be those of civilization, culture and education, the Spartans only understand one thing: war. When the Macedonian threat is gone, how do we know that Sparta will not turn against us? I'm not saying that we should be hostile towards Sparta. We need them and they need us. But we should put the power and interests of Athens first. Tell me, Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, when the war is over, how would this unified Greece of yours be ruled? True, both we and the Spartans are Hellenes, but our differences are too great. Unity would not work except for in times of war. Sparta will never share the interests of Athens, they will prioritze military might and nothing else.

I propose that a party is formed that understands the importance of the alliance, but that also understands that these cultural and civilized ideals are not Greek, but Athenian. Athens should work together with Sparta to fend of the Macedonians and perhaps the Epirotes and other foreign threats, but in doing that we must still prioritize the interests of Athens primarily (spreading civilization and ensuring soveregnity, that is).

Anyway, I don't have time to participate that much in this AAR, but if someone feels like forming a party that is a bit less naive () than that of Gaius Sempronius Gracchus's, this is my suggestion.

EDIT: By the way, Molinaargh, do Sparta and Athens share their income equally? Or do Sparta get money from "their" cities and Athens from theirs?