Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/111

 BEGINNING OF 1HE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 8ft nuder sharp restraint so as not to disobey them. 1 And thus, not being overwise in unprofitable accomplishments, we Spartans are not given to disparage our enemy's strength in clever speech, and then meet him with short-comings in reality : we think that the capacity of neighboring states is much on a par, and that the chances in reserve for both parties are too uncertain to be dis- criminated beforehand by speech. "We always make real prepa- rations against our enemies, as if they were proceeding wisely on their side : we must count upon security through our own pre cautions, not upon the chance of their errors. Indeed, there is no great superiority in one man as compared with another : he is the stoutest who is trained in the severest trials. Let us, for our parts, not renounce this discipline, .which we have received from our fathers, and which we still continue, to our very great profit : let us not hurry on, in one short hour, a resolution upon which depend so many lives, so much property, so many cities, and our own reputation besides. Let us take time to consider, since our 1 Thucyd. i, 84. Ro'h.e/j.iKoi re not rf/Jov/Uu 6iu TO EVKOC/J.OV yiyvo/j.e'&a, rd fj.lv, fin aiduf auQpoavvqf irTielarov //ere^et, ala^vvrif 6e evif>v%ia' ev(3ov^ot de, afiadtarepov TUV vo^uv r^f VTrepotyias iraidevopevoi, teal %vv ^a/le^or^n cupovsaTepov f) wore aitruv avijKovareiv not [irj, TO, axpela ^vverol uyav 6vTE, ruf ruv iroTiEfiiav TrapaaKEvilf /loyo KaJiuf /ie/x6{ievot., uvoftoluf fpyu ETreftevcu, vo/ii&iv 6e raf re 6iavoia<; TUV Tre/laf TrapdTrhrjaiovf dvai, KOI -fig TrpoamTtTovaae ri^af ov Aoyo diaiperaf. In the construction of the last sentence, I follow Haack and Poppo, in preference to Goller and Dr. Arnold. The wording of this part of the speech of Archidamus is awkward and obscure, though we make out pretty well the general sense. It deserves pe- culiar attention, as coming from 1 a king of Sparta, personally, too^ a man of superior judgment. The great points of the Spartan character are all brought out. 1. A narrow, strictly-defined, ami uniform range of ideas. 2. Compression of all other impulses and desires, but an increased sensi- bility to their own public opinion. 3. Great habits of endurance as well as of submission. The way in which the features of Spartan character are deduced from Spartan institutions, as well as the pride which Archidamus expresses in the ignorance and narrow mental range of his countrymen, are here re- markable. A similar championship of ignorance and narrow-mindedness is not only to be found among those who deride the literary and oratorical tastes of the Athenian democracy (see Aristophanes, Ran. 1070 : compare Xencphon, Memorab. i, 2, 9-49), but alsc in the speech of Eicon (Thucyd iii 3?V