History of the Peloponnesian War

for we make friends, not by receiving, but by conferring kindness. Now he who has conferred the favour is the firmer friend, in order that he may keep alive the obligation by good will towards the man on whom he has conferred it; whereas he who owes it in return feels less keenly, knowing that it is not as a favour, but as a debt, that he will repay the kindness.

Nay, we are the only men who fearlessly benefit any one, not so much from calculations of expediency, as with the confidence of liberality.

"In short, I say that both the whole city is a school for

Greece, and that, in my opinion, the same individual would amongst us prove himself qualified for the most varied kinds of action, and with the most graceful

versatility. And that this is not mere vaunting language for the occasion, so much as actual truth, the. very power of the state, which we have won by such habits, affords a proof. For it is the only country at the present time that, when brought to the test, proves superior to its