History of the Peloponnesian War

You think then that you only bear rule over your own subject allies; but I declare to you that of the two parts of the world open for man's use, the land and the sea, of the whole of the one you are most absolute masters, both as far as you avail yourselves of it now, and if you should wish to do so still further; and there is no power, neither the king nor any nation besides at the present day, that can prevent your sailing [where you please] with your present naval resources.

This power then evidently is far from being merely on a level with the benefits of your houses and lands, which you think so much to be deprived of: nor is it right for you to give about them, but rather to hold them cheap, considering them, in comparison with this, as a mere gardenplot and embellishment of a rich man's estate You should know, too, that liberty, provided we devote ourselves to that and preserve t, will easily recover these losses; whereas those who have once submitted to others find even their greatest gains diminish. Nor should you how yourselves interior in both respect to your fathers, who with labour, and not by inheritance from others, acquired these possessions, and moreover kept them, and bequeathed them to us for it is more disgraceful to be deprived of a thing when we have got it, than to fail in getting it. On the contrary, you should meet your enemies, nor only with spirit, but also with a spirit of contempt.

For confidence is produced even by lucky ignorance, ay, even in a coward; but contempt is the feeling of the man who trusts that he is superior to his adversaries in counsel also, which is our case.

And ability, with a high spirit, renders more sure the daring which arises from equal fortune; and does not so much trust to mere hope, whose strength mainly displays itself in difficulties; but rather to a judgment grounded upon present realities, whose anticipations may be more relied upon.

"It is but fair, too, that you should sustain the dignity of the state derived from its sovereignty, on which you all pride yourselves; and that either you should not shrink from its labours, or else should lay no claim to its honours either. Nor should you suppose that you are struggling to escape one evil only, slavery instead of freedom; but to avoid loss of dominion also, and danger from the animosities which you lave incurred in your exercise of that dominion.

And from this it is no longer possible for you to retire; if through fear at the present time any one is for so playing the honest man in quiet. For you now hold it as a tyranny, which it seems wrong to have assumed, but dangerous to give up.

And men with these views would very quickly ruin the state, whether they persuaded others [to adopt the same], or even lived any where independently by themselves; for quietness is not a safe principle, unless ranged with activity; nor is it for the interest of a sovereign state, but of a subject one, that it may live in safe slavery.

Do you then neither be seduced by such citizens, nor be angry with me, whom yourselves also joined in voting for war, though the enemy has invaded our country, and done what it was natural that he should do, if you would not submit; and though, besides what we looked for, this disease also has come upon us—the only thing, indeed, of all that has happened beyond our expectations. And it is through this, I well know, that in some degree I am still more the object of your displeasure;

yet not with justice, unless you will also give me the credit when you meet with any success beyond your calculation, The evils then which are sent by heaven, you must bear perforce; those which are inflicted by your enemies c with courage: for such was formerly the custom of this country, and let it not now meet with a check in your case.

But consider that it has the greatest name in all the world from not yielding to misfortunes, and from expending in war more lives and labours than any other state; and that it has now the greatest power that ever existed up to the present time; the memory of which, even should we now at length give way, (for every thing is naturally liable to decrease,) will be left to posterity for ever, namely, that we had dominion over more Greeks than any other Greek state ever had; and held out in the greatest wars against them, both collectively and singly;

and inhabited a city better provided with all things than any other, and greater. And yet your quiet man would find fault with these things;

but the man who has himself a wish to achieve something, will emulate them; while whoever does not possess them will envy them. But to be hated and offensive for the time resent has been the lot of all who ever presumed rule over others; that man however, takes wise counsel, who envy for the greatest thins. For odium does not last long; but present splendour and future glory are handed down to perpetual memory.

Do you then, providing [*]( Recte Dukas τὸ μέλλον καλὸν ad τὴν ἔπειτα δόξαν, τὸ αὐτίκα μὴαἰσχρόν ad τὴν παραυτίκα λαμπρότητα respicere adnotat. —Göller, whose interpretation is adopted by Arnold. By others καλόν and μὴ αἰσχρόν are taken as dependent on προγνόντες; providing what is honourable for the future and not disgraceful for the present. The rhythm of the sentence is, I think, in favour of the latter interpretation; the absence of the article from the neuter singular adjectives, in favour of the former.) both for your future honour, and for your immediate escape from disgrace, secure both objects by your present spirit: and neither send any heralds to the Lacedaemonians, nor show that you are weighed down by your present troubles; for such as in feeling are least annoyed at their misfortunes, while in action they most courageously resist them, these, both of states and of individuals, are the best.