[216]
If all
men alike were zealous to serve the community, because they had become ambitious
of the honors and rewards of such service, and if all were to recoil from
noxious acts, through fear of the pains and penalties enacted for malefactors,
could anything prevent our commonwealth from becoming very great? Does not
Athens possess more war galleys
than any other Hellenic city? Is she not rich in infantry and cavalry, in
revenue, in military positions, in harbors? And how are those possessions
preserved and consolidated? By the laws; for they are profitable to the
community only so long as our public conduct conforms to the laws.
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