Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/104

 $2 IflSTORY OF GREECE. Spartans with their backwardness and timidity, in not having repressed the growth of Athens before she reached this formid- able height, especially in having allowed her to fortify her city after the retreat of Xerxes, and afterwards to build the long walls from the city to the sea. 1 The Spartans, he observes, stood alone among all Greeks, in the notable system of keeping down an enemy not by acting, but delaying to act, not arresting his growth, but putting him down when his force was doubled. Falsely, indeed, had they acquired the reputation of being sure, when they were in reality merely slow : 2 in resisting Xerxes, as in resisting Athens, they had always been behindhand, disap- pointing and leaving their friends to ruin, while both these enemies had only failed of complete success through their own mistakes. After half apologizing for the tartness of these reproofs, which, however, as the Spartans were now well-disposed to go to war forthwith, would be well-timed and even agreeable, the Co- rinthian orator vindicates the necessity of plain-speaking by the urgent peril of the emergency, and the formidable character of the enemy who threatened them. " You do not reflect (he says) how thoroughly different the Athenians are from yourselves. They are innovators by nature ; sharp both in devising, and in executing what they have determined : you are sharp only in keeping what you have got, in determining on nothing beyond, and in doing even less than absolute necessity requires. 3 They again dare beyond their means, run risks beyond their own judgment, and keep alive their hopes even in desperate circumstances: your 1 Thucyd. i, 69. s Thucyd. i, 69. Tjav^u^ere yap fiovot 'EM.qvuv, u AaKedaifiovioi, oi ri) dwuftei Tivii uTJ.a ry fieW.fjrrei ujtwopevot, Kal uovoi OVK up^opivriv TT)V avfrfftv TUV kx&puv, dnrhaaiovpevqv 6e, /caraAvovref. KUITOI tT^yea-Qe uatyafaif drat, uv apa 6 loyof rov Ipyov eicpurei rov re yap M^rfov, etc. 1 Thucyd. i, 70. Oi piv ye veurepoTroiol, Kal kxixeiprioai ogeif KOI tTure- Aeuat ipyy b av yvuaiv i>fiif de TU virupxovTu re ou&iv, Kal myi>uvat u*}6ev, Kal epyu ovtit ruvayKaia it-iiteadat.. The meaning of the word oelf sharp when applied to the latter half of the sentence, is in the nature of a sarcasm. But this is suitable to the character of the speech. Gciller supposes some such word as iKavcl. instead of oi-eic, to be understood : but we should thereby both depart from the more obvious syntax, and weaken the general meaning.