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It happened by chance that Eryxias the Steirian was walking with me in the Portico of Zeus the Deliverer, when there Socrates, came up to us Critias and Erasistratus, the latter the son of Phaeax, who was the nephew of Erasistratus. Now Erasistratus had just arrived from Sicily and that part of the world. As they approached, he said, Hail, Socrates!

Socrates. The same to you, I said; have you any good news from Sicily to tell us?

Erasistratus. Most excellent. But, if you please, let us first sit down ; for I am tired with my yesterday's journey from Megara.

Soc. Gladly, if that is your desire.

Eras. What would you wish to hear first ? he said. What the Sicilians are doing, or how they are disposed towards our city? To my mind, they are very like wasps: so long as you only cause them a little annoyance they are quite unmanageable; you must destroy their nests if you wish to get the better of them. And in a similar way, the Syracusans, unless we set to work in earnest, and go against them with a great expedition, will never submit to our rule. The petty injuries which we at present inflict merely irritate them enough to make them utterly intractable. And now they have sent ambassadors to Athens, and intend, I suspect, to