Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/201

183 CONFLICTING PAIlTJKb Al S1IJACUSK 183 condition for repelling a most formidable invasion, he deprecated all alarm as to the result, and held out the firmest assurances of ultimate triumph. The very magnitude of the approaching force would intimidate the Sicilian cities and drive them into hearty defensive cooperation with Syracuse. Rarely indeed did any large or distant expedition ever succeed in its object, as might be seen from the failure of the Persians against Greece, by which failure Athens herself had so largely profited. Prep- arations, however, both effective and immediate, were indispen- sable ; not merely at home, but by means of foreign missions, to the Sicilian and Italian Greeks, to the Sikels, and to the Cartha- ginians, who h^d for some time been suspicious of the un- measured aggressive designs of Athens, and whose immense wealth would new be especially serviceable, and to Laredasmon and Corinth, for the purpose of soliciting aid in Sicily, us well as renewed invasion of Attica. So confident did he (Hermokrates) feel of their powers of defence, if properly organized, that he would even advise the Syracusans with their Sicilian 1 allies to put to sea at once, with all their naval force and two months' provisions, and to sail forthwith to the friendly harbor of Taren- tum, from whence they would be able to meet the Athenian fleet and prevent it even from crossing the Ionic gulf from Kor- kyra. They would thus show that they were not only determined on defence, but even forward in coming to blows : the only way of taking down the presumption of the Athenians, who now speculated upon Syracusan lukewarmness, because they had rendered no aid to Sparta when she solicited it at the begin- ning of the war. The" Syracusans would probably be able to 1 Thucyd. vi, 34. "O <5e fid^iara b/u re vofiifa erriKaipov, bfielf 6s 6iH rd %vvT)&f f/avxov ynicr' uv fi^euf irei&o ia$e, 5puf dprjaerat. That " habitual quiescence" which Hermokratcs here predicates of his countrymen, forms a remarkable contrast with the restless activity, and in- termeddling carried even to excess, which Perikles and Nikias deprecate in the Athenians (Thucyd. i, 144 ; vi, 7). Both of the governments, however, were democratical. This serves as a lesson of caution respecting general predications about all democracies ; for it is certain that one democracy ilifl'ered in many respects from another. It may be doubted, however, whether the attribute here ascribed by Hermokrates to his countrymen wa? really deserved, to the extent which his language implies.