History of the Peloponnesian War

"But should they say that it is not just for you to receive their colonists, let them learn that every colony, if well treated, honours its mother-country; but if wronged, is estranged from it; for they are not sent out to be slaves, but to be on the same footing with those who are left at home.

And that they wronged us, is evident; for when challenged [*]( See note on I. 27. 2.) to a judicial decision respecting Epidamnus, they chose to prosecute the charges by war rather than by equity.

And let what they are doing to us, their kinsmen, be a warning to you, that you may both avoid being seduced by them, through any false pretence; and may refuse to assist them, if they ask you in a straightforward manner: for he who incurs the fewest regrets from gratifying his enemies would continue in the greatest safety.

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