Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/164

 48 SPEECH OF THE CORINTHIANS [l that any new enterprise may imperil what you have already. When conquerors, they pursue their victory to the utmost ; when defeated, they fall back the least. Their bodies they devote to their country as though they belonged to other men ; their true self is their mind, which is most truly their own when employed in her service. When they do not carry out an intention which they have formed, they seem to themselves to have sustained a personal bereavement; wh£n_an_enterprise succeeds, they, have gained a mere instalment of what is tacome ; but if they fail, they at once conceive new hopes and so fill up the void. With them alone to hope is to have, for they lose not a moment in the execution of an idea. This is the lifelong task, full of danger and toil, which they are always imposing upon themselves. None enjoy their good things less, because they are always ) seeking for more'N^"To_do their duty is their only holiday, and they deem the quiet of inaction to be as disagreeable as the most tiresome business. If a._rnan should say of them, in a word, that they were born neither to have ft peace themselves nor to allow peace to other men, he I would simply speak the truth. 71 'In the face of such an enemy, Lacedaemonians, you ThcLacedacmcuans Pcrsist in doing nothing. You do not imist lay aside their see that peace is best secured by those policy of inaction. ^^y^^ ^g^ ^^gji. strength justly, but whose attitude shows that they have no intention of submitting ; to wrong. Justice with you seems to consist in giving no"^ annoyance to others and » in defending yourselves only f against positive injury". But this policy would hardly be successful, even if your neighbours were like yourselves ; and in the present case, as we pointed out just now, your ways compared with theirs are old-fashioned. And, as in the arts, so also in politics, the iiew must always prevail ; over the old. In settled times the traditions of govern-. V " Or, ' in nimiing no risk even in self-defence.'