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10.
‘Soldiers and comrades in this
adventure, I hope that none of you in our present strait will think to show
his wit by exactly calculating all the perils that encompass us, but that
you will rather hasten to close with the enemy, without staying to count the
odds, seeing in this your best chance of safety.
In emergencies like ours calculation is out of place; the sooner the danger is faced the better.
[2]
To my mind also most of the chances are for us, if we will only stand fast
and not throw away our advantages, overawed by the numbers of the enemy.
[3]
One of the points in our favour is the awkwardness of the landing.
This, however, only helps us if we stand our ground.
If we give way it will be practicable enough, in spite of its natural
difficulty, without a defender; and the enemy will instantly become more formidable from the difficulty he
will have in retreating, supposing that we succeed in repulsing him, which
we shall find it easier to do, while he is on board his ships, than after he
has landed and meets us on equal terms.
[4]
As to his numbers, these need not too much alarm you.
Large as they may be he can only engage in small detachments, from the
impossibility of bringing to.
Besides, the numerical superiority that we have to meet is not that of an
army on land with everything else equal, but of troops on board ship, upon
an element where many favorable accidents are required to act with effect.
[5]
I therefore consider that his difficulties may be fairly set against our
numerical deficiencies, and at the same time I charge you, as Athenians who
know by experience what landing from ships on a hostile territory means, and
how impossible it is to drive back an enemy determined enough to stand his
ground and not to be frightened away by the surf and the terrors of the
ships sailing in, to stand fast in the present emergency, beat back the
enemy at the water's edge, and save yourselves and the
place.’
Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910.
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References (41 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(11):
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2, 2.80
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3, 3.37
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.28
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.3
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.5
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.61
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.82
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.89
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5, 5.9
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 1
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 2.1
- Cross-references to this page
(4):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.1
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.pos=7.2
- Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, Syntax of the simple sentence
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(26):
- LSJ, ἀπερί-σκεπτος
- LSJ, ἀπόβα^σις
- LSJ, ἀπορία
- LSJ, δεινότης
- LSJ, δυ^σέμ-βα^τος
- LSJ, ἐκλογ-ίζομαι
- LSJ, ἐμπειρ-ία
- LSJ, ἐπίστα^μαι
- LSJ, εἰμί
- LSJ, εὔελπ-ις
- LSJ, ἡγέομαι
- LSJ, ἴσος
- LSJ, καίριος
- LSJ, κατάπλοος
- LSJ, κατα-πλήσσω
- LSJ, κρείσσων
- LSJ, ὀλίγος
- LSJ, περιίστημι
- LSJ, πλῆθος
- LSJ, προσόρμ-ι^σις
- LSJ, ῥᾴδιος
- LSJ, ῥα_χία
- LSJ, ῥόθ-ιος
- LSJ, σύμμα^χ-ος
- LSJ, συναίρω
- LSJ, τοιόσδε
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