42.
Think of these things; let the younger be informed of them by their elders, and
resolve all of you to render1 like
for like.
Do not say to yourselves that this is just, but that in the event of war something
else is expedient;
[2]
for the true path of expediency is the path of right.
The war with which the Corcyraeans would frighten you into doing wrong is distant,
and may never come;
is it worth while to be so carried away by the prospect of it,
that you bring upon yourselves the hatred of the Corinthians which is both near and
certain? Would you not be wiser in seeking to mitigate the ill-feeling which your
treatment of the Megarians has already inspired2 ?
[3]
The later kindness done in season, though small in comparison, may cancel a greater
previous offence.
[4]
And3 do not be attracted by their offer of a great naval alliance;
for to do no wrong to a neighbour is a surer source of strength than to gain a
perilous advantage under the influence of a momentary illusion.
Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1. Thucydides. Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.
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