Pseudo-Xenophon (Old Oligarch), Constitution of the Athenians, chapter 2, section 5

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[5] Further, the rulers of the sea can sail away from their own land to anywhere at all, whereas a land power can take a journey of only a few days from its own territory.¹ Progress is slow, and going on foot one cannot carry provisions sufficient for a long time. One who goes on foot must pass through friendly country or else fight and win, whereas it is possible for the seafarer to go on shore wherever he has the stronger power...this land, but to sail along the coast until he comes to a friendly region or to those weaker than himself.²

1 This dogma was proved false by Brasidas' march to the north in 424 and hence was probably composed before that year. The observation is due to W. Roscher, Leben, Werk, und Zeitalter des Thukydides (1842), p. 529.

2 There is a lacuna in this sentence.

Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 7. E. C. Marchant. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1984.

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Pseudo-Xenophon (Old Oligarch), Constitution of the Athenians
E. C. Marchant, Ed.

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Pseudo-Xenophon (Old Oligarch), Constitution of the Athenians E. C. Marchant, Ed.

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Pseudo-Xenophon (Old Oligarch), Constitution of the Athenians
E. C. Marchant, Ed.