History of the Peloponnesian War

"Since these Corcyraeans have made their harangue, not only about receiving them. but also to show that we are acting unjustly, and they are unfairly attacked; it is necessary that we too should first touch on both these points, and so proceed to the rest of our speech; that you may know more certainly beforehand the grounds of our request, and may with good reason reject their petition. Now they say that it was from regard to prudence that hitherto they accepted the alliance of no party:

whereas they adopted this practice for villany, and not for virtue; but from wishing to have no ally or witness in their unjust deeds, nor to be put to the blush by calling him to their aid.

And their city also, lying in a self-sufficient position, makes them judges of the injuries they inflict on any one, rather than that there should be judges appointed by agreement; because, while they very seldom sail from home to their neighbours, they very frequently receive others, who of necessity touch there. And herein consists the specious shunning of confederacies, which they have put forward;

not that they may avoid committing injustice with other, but that they may commit them by themselves; and that wherever they have the power, they may act with violence; and where they escape observation, they may take unfair advantage; and if in any case they have seized on something, they may not be put to the blush.

And yet, if they were, as they say, honest men, the more impregnable they were to their neighbours, the more manifestly might they have shown their virtue, by giving and taking what was just.