History of the Peloponnesian War

And what is most important, they will be hampered by scarcity of money, seeing that providing it slowly they are subject to delays;

but the opportunities of war wait for no man. "Moreover, neither the planting of forts in our territory[*](Thuc. 1.122.1) need cause us to be afraid, nor yet their navy.

For as regards the first, it is a difficult matter even in time of peace to construct here a city that will be a match for ours, to say nothing of doing this in a hostile country and at a time when we have fortifications quite as strong to oppose them.

But suppose they do establish a fort; although they might injure a part of our territory by making raids and receiving our deserters, yet that will not be sufficient to prevent us from sailing to their land and building forts there, or making reprisals with our fleet, wherein our strength lies.

For we have gained more experience of operations on land from our career on the sea than they of naval operations from their career on land.

As for their acquiring the art of seamanship, that is an advantage they will not easily secure;

for even you, who began practising it immediately after the Persian war, have not yet brought it to perfection. How then could men do anything worth mention who are tillers of the soil and not seamen, especially since they will not even be permitted to practise, because we shall always be lying in wait for them with a large fleet?

For if they had to cope with only a small fleet lying in wait, they might perhaps risk an engagement, in their ignorance getting courage from their mere numbers; but if their way is blocked by a large fleet, they will remain inactive, their skill will deteriorate through lack of practice, and that in itself will make them more timid.

Seamanship, like any other skill, is a matter of art, and practice in it may not be left to odd times, as a by-work; on the contrary, no other pursuit may be carried on as a by-work to it.