The Athenians Butchery of the Hapless Melians

You've written about the inevitable tension in fifth century athens between democracy at home and imperialism abroad. Can you tell us a bit about that? You mention the melian dialogue just then, maybe in the context of the meliandialogue. And talk about what you've called the athenians butchery of the hapless melians. The extent to which and thucydides is on one side or the other of that was obviously mitis right debate. He lived under the three 90 years when there was this cold war.