History of the Peloponnesian War

And so I look the rest should do as well as I; and that of yourselves, and not forced to it by the enemy.

For it is no dishonour to be overcome kinsmen of kinsmen, one Dorian of another Dorian, and one Chalcidean of another of his own race, or in sum, any one by another of us, being neighbours and cohabiters of the same region, encompassed by the sea, and all called by one name, Sicilians. Who, as I conceive, will both war when it happens, and again by common conferences make peace by our own selves.

But when foreigners invade us, we shall, if wise, unite all of us to encounter them, inasmuch as being weakened singly, we are in danger universally.

As for confederates, let us never hereafter call in any, nor arbitrators. For so shall Sicily attain these two benefits, to be rid of the Athenians and of domestic war for the present, and to be inhabited by ourselves with liberty and less insidiated by others for the time to come.