Maimuna Sidibay The fundamental concept Thucydides brings out in his work On Justice, Power, and Human Nature, is his pessimistic view towards human nature while simultaneously contending that justice is what it takes to catalyze prosperity. Thucydides makes certain claims through his representation of democracy that portray his views on human nature. His view teaches us that human nature has been the ultimate tool used by the famous speakers of ancient Greece—thus, it is important in studying his History for we are able to delineate these falsities as we apply them to our own lives. Then, in evaluating the implications in Thucydides’ History, I will agree that it is natural human inclination to unjustly rule over others. I propose to argue my case by first describing human nature and it’s relationship with power and second to explain that with the absence of such conventions such as justice, human nature and overt power induce civil strife. In the “Melian Dialogue,” Thucydides provides a precise position on his view of human nature and its’ pair, power. He shows here that human nature is cruel and unjust and when it is not controlled and restrained, human nature will incline man to become possessive of those more weaker than him and thus pursue his own self-interest through greed. During the Melian Dialogue, the Melians declined the Athenians’ proposal that they submit to the Athenians. In this dialogue, Thucydides made clear that the superior will use his power as he pleases to subordinate the weak; the Athenians respond to the Melians saying “We will merely declare that we are here for the benefit of our empire, and we will speak for the survival of your city: we would like to rule over you without trouble, and preserve you for our mutual advantage” (104). Cleary here we see how human nature is presenting itself; the Athenians have no regard for the Melians and in preserving their own self-interest, they by all necessary means will impose brutal force—power— on the Melians. first, I propose to describe human nature and it’s relationship with power Thucydides argues that human nature is bound to repeat itself. Therefore he suggests that we should rely on his History to preserve the truth of the past in order to prevent repeating those truths in the future (i.22, p. 13). He contests that human nature above all inclines us to aspire ideals such as power. The strategies that the Athenians express is direct power at all times. Their argument that it it just for the strong to enforce their power over the weak and “that decisions about justice are made in human discussions only when both sides are under equal compulsion” (v.89, p.103) suggests that a well-ordered political structure is one in which there is a definite ruling and a definite submissive party. In so far, I support Thucydides views on human nature that it seeks to unjustly rule over others. In the case that both human nature and power coincide, there are means by which the strong seeks to preserve their own self-interests and