Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/215

 142, 143] SPEECH OF PERICLES 99 want of practice will make them unskilful, and their want B.C. 432. of skill timid. Maritime skill is like skill of other kinds, ^^- El- liot a thing to be cultivated by the way or at chance times ; it is jealous of any other pursuit which distracts the mind for an instant from itself ' Suppose, again, that they lay hands on the treasures 143 at Olympia and Delphi, and tempt our •1 •,! ,7 n- f Our foreien sailors mercenary sailors with the offer of ^,/^ „,^ f,„^,,^ ^^ higher pay% there might be serious offers of high pay, and danger, if we and our metics t* embark- '/ *^"^y ^*'^> ^"^ <'''" '^° ing alone were not still a match for ""'"'"" "'""■ them. But we are a match for them : and, best of all, our pilots are taken from our own citizens, while no sailors are to be found so good or so numerous as ours in all the rest of Hellas. None of our mercenaries will choose to fight on their side for the sake of a few days' high pay, when he will not only be an exile, but will incur greater danger, and will have less hope of victory. ' Such I conceive to be the prospects of the Pelopon- nesians. But we ourselves are free r ii J /- 1 • I T 1 .We tnust guard the from the defects which I have noted „v^ „„a the sea, and in them ; and we have great advan- noi mind about our tages. If they attack our country by I'ouses and lands in the land, we shall attack theirs by sea ; and the devastation, even of part of Peloponnesus, will be a very different thing from that of all Attica. For they, if they want fresh territory, must take it by arms, whereas we have abundance of land both in the islands and on the continent ; such is the power which the empire of the sea gives. Reflect, if we were islanders, who would be more invulnerable ? Let us imagine that we are, and acting in that spirit let us give up land and houses, but keep a watch over the city and the sea. We should not under any irritation at the loss of oar property give battle to the Peloponnesians, who far outnumber us. If we conquer, <" Cp. i. 121 init. ^ Cp. iii. 16 init. H 2