I wrote this back in 2001, and will be thinking about it when I teach the same course tomorrow (though I’ll be on Herodotus, rather than Thucydides).

I continue to remind my students, both of the day and of the way in which reading old books can offer us some perspective on our current prospects.

For more along these lines, go here, here, and here (much more sophisticated than my halting efforts, and coming to a different conclusion).