History of the Peloponnesian War

"And so be not ashamed of the slowness and dilatoriness for which they censure us most; for speed in beginning may mean delay in ending, because you went into the war without preparation, and, moreover, in consequence of our policy we have ever inhabited a city at once free and of fairest fame.

And, after all, this trait in us may well be in the truest sense intelligent self-control, for by reason of it we alone do not become insolent in prosperity or succumb to adversity as much as others do; and when men try to goad us by praise into dangerous enterprises against our better judgment, we are not carried away by their flattery, or, if anyone goes so far as to attempt to provoke us to action by invective, we are none the more moved to compliance through vexation.

Indeed, it is because of our orderly temper[*](The speaker uses εὔκοσμομ, rather than βραδύ employed by the critics of Sparta, to suggest the contrast with impulsiveness or undue haste.) that we are brave in war and wise in counsel—brave in war, because self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and respect of self, in turn, is the chief element in courage; and wise in counsel, because we are educated too rudely to despise the laws and with too much severity of discipline to disobey them, and not to be so ultraclever in useless accomplishments[*](With a glance at the Athenians' attention to culture, especially the art of elegant speech.) as to disparage our enemy's military preparations in brave words and then fail to go through with the business with corresponding deeds, but rather to consider that the designs of our neighbours are very much like our own and that what may befall from fortune[*](cf. the Corinthians' charge, Thuc. 1.69.6, that the Spartans trusted to chance.) cannot be determined by speeches.

But it is our way always to make our preparations'by deeds, on the presumption that we go against opponents who are wise in counsel; and we ought never to build our hopes on the chance that they are going to make mistakes, but on the belief that we ourselves are taking safe precautions. And we must not believe that man differs much from man,[*](cf. the Corinthians' praise of Athenian superiority, Thuc. 1.70.) but that he is best who is trained in the severest discipline.