Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/52

 44 SPEECH OF HERMOCRATES [iv convincing argument of peace than any words of mine can be. They are the greatest power in Hellas; they come hither with a few ships to spy out our mistakes ; though we are their natural enemies, they assume the honourable name of allies, and under this flimsy pretence turn our enmity to good account. For when we go to war a-nd invite their assistance (and the}' are fond of coming whether they are invited or not) we are taxing ourselves for our own destruction, and at the same time paving the way for the advance of their empire. And at some future day, when they see that we are exhausted, they are sure to come again with a larger armament, and attempt to bring all Sicily under their yoke-'. 6i 'And yet if we must call in allies and involve ourselves We gain uothiug by '" dangers, as men of sense, looking war. JVe only invite to the interest of our several states, we the common enemy, should Set before US the prospect of The Athenians care . . . -, . . nothing about Dorian gammg an increase of dommion, not and Ionian: they want of losing what we already have. We ■^'"(y- should consider that internal quarrels more than anything else are the ruin of Sicily and her cities ; we Sicilians are fighting against one another at the very time when we are threatened by a common enem}'. Knowing this, we should be reconciled man to man, city to city, and make an united effort for the preservation of all Sicily. Let no one say to himself, "The Dorians among us may be enemies to the Athenians, but the Chal- cidians, being lonians, are safe because they are their kinsmen." For the Athenians do not attack us because we are divided into two races, of which one is their enemy and the other their friend, but because they covet the good things of Sicily which we all share alike ^'. Is not their reception of the Chalcidian appeal a proof of this ? « They have actually gone out of their way to grant the full » Cp. iv. I med. ^ Cp. vi. 77, 79. Cp. iii. 86. I;