On the Peace

If, then, you heed my advice you will stop taking counsel in your utterly haphazard fashion and give your attention to your own and the state's welfare; pondering and searching into these questions: What is it which caused these two states—Athens and Sparta I mean—to rise, each one of them, from obscure beginnings to be the first power in Hellas and then to fall, after they had attained a power second to none, into peril of being enslaved?

What are the reasons that the Thessalians, who inherited very great wealth and possess a very rich and abundant territory,[*](See Isoc. 15.155; Thuc. 1.2.) have been reduced to poverty, while the Megarians, who had small and insignificant resources[*](The Megarians were mere “nobodies” among the Greeks. Cf. Aristoph. Ach. 519, and the saying: tw=n *megare/wn ou)dei\s lo/gos. Isocrates could have ventured no more astounding paradox than in holding up the Megarians as an example to follow.) to begin with and who possess neither land nor harbors[*](He means no lands or harbors to speak of, for the Megarians had both, though very little land.) nor mines but are compelled to farm mere rocks, own estates which are the greatest[*](Through commerce.) among the Hellenes?

Why is it that the Thessalians, with a cavalry of more than three thousand horse and light-armed troops beyond number,[*](See Xen. Hell. 6.1.19.) have their fortresses occupied from time to time by certain other states[*](By the Macedonians under Alexander II. and by the Thebans under Pelopidas.) while the Megarians, with only a small force, govern their city as they see fit? And, again, why is it that the Thessalians are always at war with each other while the Megarians, who dwell between the Peloponnesians on the one hand and the Thebans and the Athenians on the other, are continually in a state of peace?[*](An “unphilosophical” answer might be that no one coveted Megarian territory, whereas Thessalian resources were tempting. See a remark of Thuc. 1.2.)

If you will go over these and similar questions in your minds, you will discover that arrogance and insolence have been the cause of our misfortunes while sobriety and self control have been the source of our blessings.[*](See General Introd. pp. xxxii, xxxiii, Isocrates, Vol. I., L.C.L.) But, while you commend sobriety in individual men and believe that those who practice it enjoy the most secure existence and are the best among your fellow citizens, you do not think it fit to make the state practice it.

And yet it behoves states much more than individuals to cultivate the virtues and to shun vices;[*](Cf. Plat. Rep. 545b.) for a man who is godless and depraved may die before paying the penalty for his sins, but states, since they are deathless, soon or late must submit to punishment at the hands both of men and of the gods.