ch. 1
7.1.1In the following year ambassadors of the Lacedaemonians note and their allies, with full powers, came to Athens to take counsel as to what should be the terms of the alliance between the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians. And while many foreigners and many Athenians said that the alliance ought to be on terms of full equality, Procles the Phliasian made the following speech:
7.1.2“Men of Athens, since you have decided that it is a good thing to make the Lacedaemonians your friends, it seems to me that you ought to consider this point, how the friendship is to endure for the longest possible time. Now it is only by making the compact on such terms as will be most advantageous to each party that we can expect it to be, in all probability, most enduring. The other points, then, have been pretty well agreed upon, but the question of the leadership is at present under discussion. Now it has been proposed by your Senate that the leadership by sea shall belong to you, and the leadership by land to the Lacedaemonians. And I, too, think that this distinction is based, not so much upon human judgment as upon divine arrangement and ordering.
7.1.3In the first place, you have a position most excellently adapted by nature for supremacy by sea. For most of the states which are dependent upon the sea are situated round about your state, and they are all weaker than note yours. In addition to this, you have harbours, without which it is not possible to enjoy naval power. Furthermore, you already possess many triremes, and it is a traditional policy of yours to keep adding ships.
7.1.4You likewise possess as peculiarly your own all the arts and crafts which have to do with ships. Again, you are far superior to other men in experience of nautical affairs, for most of you get your livelihood from the sea; hence, while attending to your private concerns, you are also at the same time gaining experience for encounters by sea. Here is another point also: there is no port from which more triremes can sail forth at one time than from your city. And this is a matter of no slight importance with reference to leadership, for all men love best to join forces with the power which is first to show itself strong.
7.1.5Furthermore, it has also been granted you by the gods to be successful in this pursuit. For while you have engaged in very many and very great combats by sea, you have met with an exceedingly small number of misfortunes and have achieved an exceedingly large number of successes. Therefore it is likely that the allies would like best to share in such perils if they were under your leadership.
7.1.6And that this devotion to the sea is indeed both necessary and proper for you, you must conclude from the following fact: the Lacedaemonians once made war upon you for many years, note and though masters of your land could make no progress toward destroying you. But when at length the deity granted them to win the mastery by sea, straightway you fell completely under their power. note In these circumstances, therefore, it is plain to be seen that all your safety depends upon the sea.
7.1.7Such, then, being the situation ordained by nature, how could you be content to allow the Lacedaemonians to be leaders by sea, when, in the first place, they themselves admit that they are less experienced than you are in this work, and when, in the second place, they do not risk as much as you do in contests by sea, but merely the people on board the triremes, whereas you risk wives and children and the entire state.
7.1.8“This is the situation on your side; consider now that of the Lacedaemonians. Firstly, they dwell in the interior; hence, so long as they are masters of the land, they can lead a comfortable existence even if they are shut off from the sea. Therefore, realizing this fact themselves, they carry on their training from their very boyhood with a view to war by land. Furthermore, in that which is of the greatest importance, obedience to their commanders, they are best by land, as you are by sea.
7.1.9Again, they on their side can set forth by land, as you can with a fleet, in greatest numbers and with greatest speed; therefore it is to them in turn that the armies of the allies would be likely to attach themselves with greatest confidence. Besides, the deity has granted, as to you success by sea, so to them success by land; for while they on their side have engaged in very many combats on the land, they have incurred an exceedingly small number of defeats, and have won an exceedingly large number of victories.
7.1.10And that this devotion to the land is no less necessary for them than devotion to the sea for you, one may judge from the results. For you made war upon note them for many years, note and though you defeated them many times by sea, could make no progress toward subduing them. But so soon as they incurred one defeat on the land, note immediately their wives and children and their entire state were at stake.
7.1.11Hence for them, on their side, it would surely be a dreadful thing to allow others to be leaders by land, when they themselves are best at the administration of affairs by land. As for myself, therefore, the course which has been proposed by your Senate is that which I have urged, and which I believe to be most advantageous to both parties; and may you, for your part, be fortunate in reaching the conclusion that is best for us all.”
