Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/258

 250 SPEECH OF ALCIBIADES [vi prove to you that if you do not come to the rescue Sicily will c- i ■, 1 t ^i be lost. If the Greeks would all unite you come to the resuc. they might even now, notwithstanding The Sicilians will not ^^q[j- vv^^nt of military skill, resist tim'/e, and Syracuse. , _ ^, c- 1 , ' . / / /■ With success ; but the byracusans alone, alone ts no utalcii jor ' •> ' the Athenians. Send whose wholc forces have becn already hoplites and a Spartan defeated, and who cannot move freely commander at once, and, 'n t li ^ -..i .^ j ^.l fo,i,/y Decelea. I knozv at sea, Will be unable to withstand the best what the Athenians power which the Athenians already most dread You must have on the spot. And Syracuse once be up and doimr. ^, ,, , , r c^- -i • • ^i • taken, the whole 01 Sicily is in their hands; the subjugation of Italy will follow; and the danger which, as I was saying, threatens you from that quarter, will speedily overwhelm you. And therefore remember every one of you that the safety, not of Sicily alone, but of Peloponnesus, is at stake. No time should be lost. You must send to Sicily a force of hoplites who will themselves handle the oars and will take the field imme- diately on landing. A Spartan commander I conceive to be even more indispensable than an army ; his duty will be to organise the troops which are already enlisted, and to press the unwilling into the service. Thus you will inspire confidence in your friends and overcome the fears of the wavering. Here too in Hellas you should make open war. The Syracusans, seeing that you have not forgotten them, will then persevere in their resistance, while the Athenians will have greater difficulty in rein- forcing their army. You ought also to fortify Decelea in Attica ; the Athenians are always in particular dread of this; to them it seems to be the only peril of which they have not faced the worst in the course of the war. And the way to hurt an enemy most surely is to inform yourself exactly about the weak points of which you see that he is conscious, and strike at them. For every man is likely to know best himself the dangers which he has most to fear. I will sum up briefly the chief though b}' no means all the advantages which you will gain, and the disad-