previous next
121. We, however, do not make war upon the Athenians in a spirit of vain-glory, but from a sense1 of wrong; there is ample justification, and when we obtain redress, we will put up the sword. [2] For every reason we are likely to succeed. First, because we are superior in numbers and in military skill; secondly, because we all obey as one man the orders given to us. [3] They are doubtless strong at sea, but we too will provide a navy, for which the means can be supplied partly by contributions from each state, partly out of the funds at Delphi and Olympia. A loan will be granted to us, and by the offer of higher pay we can draw away their foreign sailors. The Athenian power consists of mercenaries, and not of their own citizens; but our soldiers are not mercenaries, and therefore cannot so be bought, for we are strong in men if poor in money. [4] Let them be beaten in a single naval engagement and they are probably conquered at once; but suppose they hold out, we shall then have more time in which to practise at sea. As soon as we have brought our skill up to the level of theirs our courage will surely give us the victory. For that is a natural gift which they cannot learn, but their superior skill is a thing acquired,2 which we must attain by practice3. [5] 'And the money which is required for the war, we will provide by a contribution. What!4 shall their allies never fail in paying the tribute which is to enslave them, and shall we refuse to give freely in order to save ourselves and be avenged on our enemies, or rather to prevent the money which we refused to give from being taken from us by them and used to our destruction?

1 We are superior to the Athenians in numbers, in military skill, in unanimity, and our fleet will soon be on a level with theirs.

2 Or, 'which we must overcome by practice.'

3 Or, 'which we must overcome by practice.'

4 But we must find money.

Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1. Thucydides. Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.

This text was converted to electronic form by optical character recognition and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Notes (E.C. Marchant)
load focus Notes (Charles D. Morris)
load focus English (Thomas Hobbes, 1843)
load focus English (1910)
load focus Greek (1942)
hide References (55 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (19):
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus, 1-150
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus, 151-215
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 1007
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 1065
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax, 1242
    • W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 7.50
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3, 3.42
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6, 6.79
    • T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.25
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER CXVIII
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER XX
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER XC
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.72
    • C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.9
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.141
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.141
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.143
    • E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.83
    • Basil L. Gildersleeve, Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes, 1
  • Cross-references to this page (15):
    • Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, THE VERB: VOICES
    • Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, ADVERBIAL COMPLEX SENTENCES (2193-2487）
    • Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, NEGATIVE SENTENCES
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.2
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.1.3
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.1.4
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.2.2
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.2.4
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.6.1
    • Harper's, Trapezītae
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), ARGENTA´RII
    • William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
    • Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, Tenses
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 12.36
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 7.54
  • Cross-references in notes to this page (4):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (17):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: