History of the Peloponnesian War

"But neither will you break the treaty with the Lacedaemonians by receiving us, who are allies of neither party.

For it is mentioned in it, that whichever of the Grecian states is in alliance with no other, it has permission to go to whichever side it may please.

And it is hard if these shall be allowed to man their ships both from the confederates, and moreover from the rest of Greece also, and especially from your subjects, while they will exclude us both from our proposed alliance, and from assistance from any other quarter; and then consider it an injustice if you are persuaded to what we request. But much greater fault shall we find with you, if we do not persuade you.

For us who are in peril, and not actuated by any hostile feeling, you will reject; while these men who are thus actuated, and have made the attack, you will be so far from restraining, that you will even overlook their gaining additional power from your dominions; which you should not do; but should either stop their mercenaries drawn from your country, or send succour to us also, in what ever way you may be persuaded; but it were best of all to receive us openly, and assist us.

And many, as we hinted at the beginning, are the advantages we hold forth to you; bat the greatest of them is, that we both have the same enemies, [*]( Göller observes that we should have expected εἰσίν here, rather than ἦσαν; but the construction is confused, and the imperfect ἦσαν is to be referred to ὑπείπομεν rather than to ἀποδείκνυμεν. We say, what we said before, namely, that we had both the same enemies. —Arnold.) (which is the surest bond,) and those not weak, but able to harm such as have stood aloof from them. And as it is a naval, and not a land alliance that is offered you, the loss of it is not the same; but it were best, if possible, [*]( Arnold says that the infinitive moods ἐᾶν and ἔχειν depend upon a verb understood, which is to be borrowed from the preceding clause: for οὐκ ὁμοία is the same thing in sense as οὐκ ὁμοίως ξυμφέρει; from whence the verb ξυμφέρει is to be tacitly repeated with what follows. —That some such impersonal verb is understood is very probable: but is not οὐκ ὁμοία rather equivalent to οὐκ ὁμοίως ἀξύμφορόν ἐστι? Not merely the same as it would be in the ease of a land alliance, but much greater. Compare two expressions in I. 143. 3, 4, καὶ ἄλλα οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἴσου μεγάλα ἐχειν ... καὶ οὐκέτι ἐκ τοῦ ὁμοίου ἔσται πελοποννήσου μέρος τι τμηθῆναι καὶ τὴν ʼαττικὴν ἅπασαν κ. τ. λ.) to allow no one else to possess ships; but if not, whoever is strongest in them, to have him for your friend.