105.
Athenian envoys
‘When you speak of the favour of the gods, we may as fairly
hope for that as yourselves; neither our pretensions nor our conduct being in any way contrary to
what men believe of the gods, or practise among themselves.
[2]
Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of
their nature they rule wherever they can.
And it is not as if we were the first to make this law, or to act upon
it when made: we found it existing before us, and shall leave it to
exist for ever after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing that you and everybody else,
having the same power as we have, would do the same as we do.
[3]
Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we have no fear and no reason
to fear that we shall be at a disadvantage.
But when we come to your notion about the Lacedaemonians, which leads
you to believe that shame will make them help you, here we bless your
simplicity but do not envy your folly.
[4]
The Lacedaemonians, when their own interests or their country's laws
are in question, are the worthiest men alive; of their conduct towards others much might be said, but no clearer idea
of it could be given than by shortly saying that of all the men we know
they are most conspicuous in considering what is agreeable honorable,
and what is expedient just.
Such a way of thinking does not promise much for the safety which you
now unreasonably count upon.’
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Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910.
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References (28 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(6):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax, 1103
- T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8, 8.27
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER XVIII
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER LX
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER LXI
- Gilbert A. Davies, Commentary on Demosthenes: Philippics I, II, III, 3
- Cross-references to this page
(5):
- Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, ADVERBIAL COMPLEX SENTENCES (2193-2487）
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.1
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.2.2
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(17):
- LSJ, ἄφρων
- LSJ, ἀνθρώπ-ειος
- LSJ, ἀπειρό-κα^κος
- LSJ, δόξα^
- LSJ, ἔξω
- LSJ, ἐπιφαν-ής
- LSJ, εὐμένεια
- LSJ, φοβέω
- LSJ, ἡδύς
- LSJ, λείπω
- LSJ, μα^κα^ρ-ίζω
- LSJ, νόμ-ι^σις
- LSJ, παραλαμβάνω
- LSJ, πιστ-εύω
- LSJ, πρός
- LSJ, χράω
- LSJ, ζηλ-όω
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