Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/194

l86 SPEECH OF NICIAS [vi certain persons both here and at Lacedaemon have nearly T, J J r xr ■ succeeded in reducing it. But if vou rite stale of our affairs ° -' m Hellas is uHcertaht, meet with any serious reverse, your and ivhiieive arc dream- enemies vvill be upon you in a moment, ins of eonquesis abroad ^^^ ^j^^ agreement was originally ex- we shall be attracting ° o j enemies at home. The tracted from them by the pressure of Chalcidians are still in misfortune, and the discredit of it was rebellion. ^^ ^j^^j^. ^j^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^ j^ ^j^^ treaty itself there are many disputed points ; and, unsatisfactory as it is, to this hour several cities, and very powerful cities too, persist in rejecting it. Some of these are at open war with us already; others may declare war at ten days' notice c; and they only remain at peace because the Lacedaemonians are indisposed to move. And in all probability, if they find our power divided (and such a division is precisely what we are striving to create), they will eagerly join the Sicilians, whose alliance in the war they would long ago have given anything to obtain. These considerations should weigh with us. The state is far from the desired haven, and we should not run into danger and seek to gain a new empire before we have fully secured the old. The Chalcidians in Thrace have been rebels all these years and remain unsubdued, and there are other subjects of ours in various parts of the mainland who are uncertain in their allegiance. And we forsooth cannot lose a moment in avenging the wrongs of our allies the Egestaeans, while we still defer the punishment of our revolted subjects, whose offences are of long standing. II 'And yet if we subdue the Chalcidian rebels we may Sicily, even if con- i"etain our hold on them ; but Sicily quered, cannot be re- is a populous and distant country, over iatned. which, even if we are victorious, we shall hardly be able to maintain our dominion. And how foolish it is to select for attack a land which no conquest can secure, while he who fails to conquer will not be where he was before ! Cp. V. 46 init. *> Cp. V. 115 med. « Cp. v. 26 med., vi. 7 fin.