History of the Peloponnesian War

"Since I see, men of Athens, that you are wholly bent upon the expedition, I pray that these matters may turn out as we wish;

for the present juncture, however, I will show what my judgment is. The cities we are about to attack are, as I learn by report, large, and neither subject to one another nor in need of any such change as a person might be happy to accept in order to escape from enforced servitude to an easier condition, nor likely to accept our rule in place of liberty; and the number is large, for a single island, of cities of Hellenic origin.

For except Naxos and Catana, which I expect will side with us on account of their kinship to the Leontines, there are seven others;[*](Syracuse, Selinus, Gela, Agrigentum, Messene, Himera, Camarina (Schol.).) and these are equipped with everything in a style very like to our own armament, and not least those against which our expedition is more immediately directed, Selinus and Syracuse.

For they can supply many hoplites, archers and javelin-men, and possess many triremes and a multitude of men to man them. They have wealth, too, partly in private possession and partly in the temples at Selinus; and to the Syracusans tribute has come in from time immemorial from certain barbarians also; but their chief advantage over us is in the fact that they have many horses, and use grain that is homegrown and not imported.