History of the Peloponnesian War

"The sending out, Acanthians, of myself and my army by the Lacedaemonians, has been executed to verify the reason we alleged for hostilities at the commencement of them, viz. that to liberate Greece we should go to war with the Athenians.

And if we have been long in coming to you, through being disappointed in our expectation regarding the war in those parts, according to which we hoped quickly by ourselves, and without any risk on your part, to overthrow the Athenians, let no one find fault with us; for now, when we had an opportunity, we are come, and will endeavour, in concert with you, to subdue them. But I am astonished at my being shut out of your gates, and that my arrival should be unwelcome to any of you.

For we Lacedaemonians, as thinking that we should come to men who in feeling, at any rate, were on our side, even before we actually joined them, and that we should be welcome to you, ran the great risk of making a march of many days through the country of strangers, and [*]( If the τε after κίνδυνον is to be retained, I think Haack's explanation of the passage the only one that can give it its true force, viz. that παρασχόμενοι is carelessly introduced instead of παρεσχόμεθα. If Poppo's objection to this be considered valid, I should then agree with him in omitting τε.) evinced all possible zeal:

and now, if you have aught else in mind, or if you should stand in the way of your own liberty, and that of the rest of the Greeks, it would be a hard case.

For it is not merely that you oppose me yourselves, but of those also to whom I may apply, each will be less disposed to come over to me, raising a difficulty on the ground that you, to whom I first came, and who are seen in the possession of a considerable city, and are considered to be prudent men, did not admit me.

And I shall not be able to prove the credibility of the reason [alleged by us for the war], but shall be charged with either bringing to them a liberty which has an unjust end in view, or of having come too weak and powerless to assist them against the Athenians, in case of their attacking them. And yet when I went with the army I now have to the relief of Nisaea, the Athenians, though more numerous, were unwilling to engage with me: so that it is not likely, that coming with forces conveyed [*]( I have followed Poppo in understanding στρατῷ after νηϊτῇ, so that there is no reason for striking out the words τῷ ἐν νισαίᾳ.) by sea, they will send against you an army equal in numbers to that at Nisaea.

With regard to myself, too, I have come to you, not for the injury, but for the liberation of the Greeks-having bound the Lacedaemonian authorities by the most solemn oaths, that such as I win over shall assuredly be independent confederates-nor, again, that we may have allies whom we have got by violence or deceit, but, on the contrary, prepared to act as allies to you, who are enslaved by the Athenians. I claim, therefore, neither to be suspected myself, since I have given the strongest pledges for my honesty, nor to be considered a powerless avenger; and I call on you to come over to me with confidence.