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18.
In this state of things what reason can we
give to ourselves for holding back, or what excuse can we offer to our
allies in Sicily for not helping them?
They are our confederates, and we are bound to assist them, without
objecting that they have not assisted us.
We did not take them into alliance to have them to help us in Hellas, but
that they might so annoy our enemies in Sicily as to prevent them from
coming over here and attacking us.
[2]
It is thus that empire has been won, both by us and by all others that have
held it, by a constant readiness to support all, whether barbarians or
Hellenes, that invite assistance; since if all were to keep quiet or to pick and choose whom they ought to
assist, we should make but few new conquests, and should imperil those we
have already won.
Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often
strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.
[3]
And we cannot fix the exact point at which our empire shall stop; we have reached a position in which we must not be content with retaining
but must scheme to extend it, for, if we cease to rule others, we are in
danger of being ruled ourselves.
Nor can you look at inaction from the same point of view as others, unless
you are prepared to change your habits and make them like theirs.
[4]
Be convinced then that we shall augment our
power at home by this adventure abroad, and let us make the expedition, and
so humble the pride of the Peloponnesians by sailing off to Sicily, and
letting them see how little we care for the peace that we are now enjoying; and at the same time we shall either become masters, as we very easily may,
of the whole of Hellas through the accession of the Sicilian Hellenes, or in
any case ruin the Syracusans, to the no small advantage of ourselves and our
allies.
[5]
The faculty of staying if successful, or of returning, will be secured to
us by our navy, as we shall be superior at sea to all the Siceliots put
together.
[6]
And do not let the do-nothing policy which Nicias advocates, or his setting
of the young against the old, turn you from your purpose, but in the good
old fashion by which our fathers, old and young together, by their united
counsels brought our affairs to their present height, do you endeavour still
to advance them; understanding that neither youth nor old age can do anything the one
without the other, but that levity, sobriety, and deliberate judgment are
strongest when united, and that, by sinking into inaction, the city, like
everything else, will wear itself out, and its skill in everything decay; while each fresh struggle will give it fresh experience, and make it more
used to defend itself not in word but in deed.
[7]
In short, my conviction is that a city not inactive by nature could not
choose a quicker way to ruin itself than by suddenly adopting such a policy,
and that the safest rule of life is to take one's character and institutions
for better and for worse, and to live up to them as closely as one
can.’
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References (51 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(10):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 1293
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes, 1134
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Trachiniae, 1046
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.1
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.51
- T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.46
- T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.66
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.120
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1, 1.144
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 28
- Cross-references to this page
(8):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.1
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.1
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.6.1
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter III
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter V
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 28
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(1):
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Thuc. 3.37
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(32):
- LSJ, ἄρχω
- LSJ, ἀείρω
- LSJ, ἀκρι_β-ής
- LSJ, ἀντιβοηθέω
- LSJ, ἀντιτίθημι
- LSJ, ἀποκν-έω
- LSJ, ἀπράγμ-ων
- LSJ, ἀπραγμ-οσύνη
- LSJ, διάφορ-ος
- LSJ, διά-στα^σις
- LSJ, ἐγγηρ-άσκω
- LSJ, ἐπεί
- LSJ, ἐπισκεπτ-έος
- LSJ, εἰκός
- LSJ, φαῦλος
- LSJ, φυ_λοκρι^νέω
- LSJ, γε
- LSJ, γηράσκω
- LSJ, μεταβολ-ή
- LSJ, μεταλαμβάνω
- LSJ, προάγω
- LSJ, προκατα-λαμβάνω
- LSJ, προσ-κτάομαι
- LSJ, προσλαμβάνω
- LSJ, προστίθημι
- LSJ, σκήπτω
- LSJ, στόρνυ_μι
- LSJ, συγκερ-άννυ_μι
- LSJ, συνόμνυ_μι
- LSJ, τα^μι^-εύω
- LSJ, τρίβω
- LSJ, ὠφελ-έω
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