Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/213

141 ] SPEECH OF PERICLES 97 as the greatest, imposed on a neighbour and an equal R.C 43a. when there has been no lesral award. ,, , ^'- ^7- , ^ ' Unless von mean to can mean nothing but slavery. gn,e way uow, you 'That our resources are equal to '""S^ determine never theirs, and that we shall be as strong '« ^""^ «« ^ «' «//■ Nor ° need yon fear the result ; m the war, 1 will now prove to you in for you have many ad- detail. The Peloponnesians cultivate vantages over the Pelo- their own lands, and they have no /""'""'^j'^;, f':^' "^ •' poor and till their own wealth either public or private. Nor land, they are unaccus- have they any experience of long ^onled to great wars, wars in countries beyond the sea; ""^^ ^'^'^^^^ ,n race. their poverty prevents them from fighting, except in person against each other, and that for a short time only. Such men cannot be often manning fleets or sending out armies. They would be at a distance from their own properties, upon which they must nevertheless draw, and they will be kept off the sea by us. Now wars are sup- ported out of accumulated wealth, and not out of forced contributions. And men who cultivate their own lands are more ready to serve with their persons than with their property'^; they do not despair of their lives, but they soon grow anxious lest their money should all be spent, especially if the war in which they are engaged is pro- tracted beyond their calculation, as may well be the case. In a single pitched battle the Peloponnesians and their allies are a match for all Hellas, but they are not able to maintain a war against a power different in kind from their own ^ ; they have no regular general assembly, and there- fore cannot execute their plans with speed and decision. The confederacy is made up of many races ; all the repre- sentatives have equal votes, and press their several interests. There follows the usual result, that nothing is ever done properly. For some are all anxiety to be revenged on an enemy, while others only want to get off with as little loss as possible. The members of such " Cp. i. 121 med. ^ Cp. viii. 96 fin. VOL. I. H