we haue already there being plenty of Timber in Italy with the which besieging Peloponnesus round and also taking the Cities thereof with our Land-forces vpon such occasions as should arise from the Land some by assault and some by siege wee hoped easily to haue debelled it and afterwards to haue gotten the dominion of all Greece As for Money and Corne to facilitate some points of this the places wee should haue conquered there besides what heere wee should haue found would sufficiently haue furnished vs. Thus from one that most exactly knoweth it you haue heard what is the Designe of the Fleete now gone and vvhich the Generals there as farre as they can vvill also put in execution Vnderstand next that vnlesse you ayde them they yonder cannot possibly hold out For the Sicilians though inexpert if many of them vnite may well subsist but that the Syracusians alone with their whole power already beaten and withall kept from the vse of the Sea should withstand the Forces of the Athenians already there is a thing impossible And if their Citie should be taken all Sicily is had and soone after Italy also and the danger from thence which I foretold you would not be long ere it fell vpon you Let no man therefore thinke that hee now consulteth of Sicily onely but also of Peloponnesus vnlesse this bee done with speed Let the Armie you send bee of such as being aboord may row and landing presently be armed And which I thinke more profitable then the Armie it selfe send a Spartan for Commander both to traine the Souldiers already there and to compell vnto it such as refuse For thus will your present friends bee the more encouraged and such as bee doubtfull come to you with the more assurance It were also good to make Warre more openly vpon them heere that the Syracusians seeing your care may the rather hold out and the Athenians bee lesse able to send supply to their Armie You ought likewise to fortifie Decelea in the Territory of Athens a thing which the Athenians themselues most feare and reckon for the onely euill they haue not yet tasted in this Warre And the way to hurt an Enemie most is to know certainely what he most feareth and to bring the same vpon him For in reason a man therefore feareth a thing most as hauing the precisest knowledge of what will most hurt him As for the commodities which your selues shall reape and depriue the Enemie of by so fortifying letting much passe I will summe you vp the principall Whatsoeuer the Territory is furnished withall will come most of it vnto you partly taken and partly of its owne accord The reuenue of the Siluer Mines in Laurium and whatsoeuer other profit they haue from their Land or from their Courts of Iustice will presently be lost And which is worst their Confederates will be remisse in bringing in their reuenue and will care little for the Athenians if they beleeue once that you follow the Warre to the vtmost That any of these things be put in act speedily and earnestly Men of Lacedaemon it resteth onely in your selues for I am confident and I thinke I erre not that all these things are possible to bee done Now I must craue this that I bee neither the worse esteemed for that hauing once beene thought a louer of my Countrey I goe now amongst the greatest Enemies of the same against it nor yet mistrusted as one that speaketh with the zeale of a Fugitiue For though I flye from the malice of them that draue mee out I shall not if you take my counsell fly your profit Nor are you enemies so much who haue hurt but your enemies as they are that haue made enemies of friends I loue not my Countrey as wronged by it but as hauing liued in safety in it Nor doe I thinke that I doe heerein goe against any Countrey of mine but that I farre rather seeke to recouer the Countrey I haue not And hee is truely a louer of his Countrey not that refuseth to inuade the Countrey hee hath wrongfully lost but that desires so much to bee in it as by any meanes hee can hee vvill attempt to recouer it I desire you therefore Lacedaemonians to make vse of my seruice in whatsoeuer danger or labour confidently seeing you know according to the common saying if I did hurt you much when I was your enemie I can helpe you much when I am your friend And so much the more in that I know the state of Athens and but coniectured at yours And considering you are now in deliberation vpon a matter of so extreme importance I pray you thinke not much to send an Armie both into Sicily and Attica as well to preserue the great matters that are there with the presence of a small part of your Force as also to pull downe the power of the Athenians both present and to come and afterwards to dwell in safety your selues and to haue the leading of all Greece not forced but voluntary and with their good affection Thus spake Alcibiades And the Lacedaemonians thuogh before this they had a purpose of their own accord to send an Army against Athens but had delayed and neglected it yet when these particulars were deliuered by him they were a great deale the more confirmed in the same conceiuing that what they had heard was from one that euidently knew it Insomuch as they had set their minds already vpon the fortifying at Decelea and vpon the sending of some succours into Sicily for the present And hauing assigned Gylippus the sonne of Cleandridas vnto the Syracusian Ambassadours for chiefe Commander they willed him to consider both with them and the Corinthians how best for their present meanes and with greatest speed some helpe might bee conueyed vnto them in Sicily He thereupon appointed the Corinthians to send him two Gallies presently to Asine and to furnish the rest they meant to send and to haue them ready to saile when occasion should serue This agreed vpon they departed from Lacedaemon In the meane time the Gallie arriued at Athens which the Generals sent home for money and Horsemen And the Athenians vpon hearing decreed to send both prouision and Horsemen to the Armie So the Winter ended and the seuenteenth yeere of this Warre written by Thucydides In the very beginning of the next Spring the Athenians in Sicily departed from Catana and sailed by the Coast to Megara of Sicily The inhabitants whereof in the time of the Tyrant Gelon the Syracusians as I mentioned before had driuen out and now possesse the Territory themselues Landing heere they wasted the Fields and hauing assaulted a certaine small Fortresse of the Syracusians not taking it they went presently backe part by Land and part by Sea vnto the Riuer Tereas And landing againe in the plaine Fields wasted the same and burnt vp their Corne and lighting on some Syracusians not many they slew some of them and
imported hither whereby we no lesse familiarly enioy the commodities of all other Nations then our owne Then in the studies of Warre wee excell our Enemies in this wee leaue aur Citie open to all men nor was it euer seene that by banishing of strangers we denyed them the learning or sight of any of those things which if not hidden an Enemie might reape aduantage by not relying on secret preparation and deceipt but vpon our owne courage in the action They in their discipline hunt after valour presently from their youth with laborious exercise and yet wee that liue remissely vndertake as great dangers as they For example the Lacedaemonians inuade not our dominion by themselues alone but with the ayde of all the rest But when wee inuade our neighbours though wee fight in hostile ground against such as in their owne ground fight in defence of their owne substance yet for the most part wee get the victorie Neuer Enemie yet fell into the hands of our whole Forces at once both because wee apply our selues much to Nauigation and by Land also send many of our men into diuers Countries abroad But when fighting with a part of it they chance to get the better they boast they haue beaten the whole and when they get the worse they say they are beaten by the whole And yet when from ease rather then studious labour and vpon naturall rather then doctrinall valour wee come to vndertake any danger wee haue this oddes by it that we shall not faint before-hand with the meditation of future trouble and in the action wee shall appeare no lesse confident then they that are euer toyling procuring admiration to our Citie as well in this as in diuers other things For we also giue our selues to brauery and yet with thrift and to Philosophy and yet without mollification of the minde And we vse riches rather for opportunities of action then for verball ostentation And hold it not ashame to confesse pouerty but not to haue auoided it Moreouer there is in the same men a care both of their owne and of the publique affaires and a sufficient knowledge of State matters euen in those that labour with their hands For we onely thinke one that is vtterly ignorant therein to be a man not that meddles with nothing but that is good for nothing We likewise weigh what we vndertake and apprehend it perfectly in our mindes not accounting words for a hindrance of action but that it is rather a hindrance to action to come to it without instruction of words before For also in this we excell others daring to vndertake as much as any and yet examining what wee vndertake whereas with other men ignorance makes them dare and consideration dastards and they are most rightly reputed valiant who though they perfectly apprehend both what is dangerous and what is easie are neuer the more thereby diuerted from aduenturing Againe we are contrary to most men in matter of bounty For we purchase our friends not by receiuing but by bestowing benefits And he that bestoweth a good turne is euer the most constant friend because hee will not lose the thankes due vnto him from him whom he bestowed it on Whereas the friendship of him that oweth a benefit is dull and flat as knowing his benefit not to be taken for a fauor but for a debt So that we onely doe good to others not vpon computation of profit but freenesse of trust In summe it may be said both that the City is in generall a Schoole of the Grecians and that the men here haue euery one in particular his person disposed to most diuersity of actions and yet all with grace and decency And that this is not now rather a brauery of words vpon the occasion then reall truth this power of the Citie which by these institutions we haue obtained maketh euident For it is the onely power now found greater in proofe then fame and the onely power that neither grieueth the invader when he miscarries with the quality of those he was hurt by nor giueth cause to the subiected States to murmure as being in subiection to men vnworthy For both with present and future Ages we shall be in admiration for a power not without testimony but made euident by great arguments and which needeth not either a Homer to praise it or any other such whose Poems may indeed for the present bring delight but the trutâ— will afterwards confute the opinion conceiued of the actions For we haue opened vnto vs by our courage all Seas and Lands and set vp eternall Monuments on all sides both of the euill we haue done to our enemies and the good wee haue done to our friends Such is the Citie for which these men thinking it no reason to lose it valiantly fighting haue dyed And it is fit that euery man of you that bee left should bee like-minded to vndergoe any trauell for the same And I haue therefore spoken so much concerning the Citie in generall as well to shew you that the stakes betweene vs and them whose Citie is not such are not equall as also to make knowne by effects the worth of these men I am to speake of the greatest part of their praises being therein already deliuered For what I haue spoken of the Citie hath by these and such as these beene atchieued Neither would praises and actions appeare so leuelly concurrent in many other of the Grecians as they doe in these the present revolution of these mens liues seeming vnto mee an argument of their vertues noted in the first act thereof and in the last confirmed For euen such of them as were worse then the rest doe neuerthelesse deserue that for their valour shewne in the Warres for defence of their Countrey they should bee preferred before the rest For hauing by their good actions abolished the memory of their euill they haue profited the State thereby more then they haue hurt it by their priuate behauiour Yet there was none of these that preferring the further fruition of his wealth was thereby growne cowardly or that for hope to ouercome his pouerty at length and to attaine to riches did for that cause withdraw himselfe from the danger For their principall desire was not wealth but reuenge on their Enemies which esteeming the most honourable cause of danger they made account through it both to accomplish their reuenge and to purchase wealth withall putting the vncertainety of successe to the a count of their hope but for that which was before their eyes relying vpon themselues in the Action and therein chusing rather to fight and dye then to shrinke and bee saued They fled from shame but with their bodies they stood out the Battell and so in a moment whilest Fortune inclineth neither way left their liues not in feare but in opinion of victory Such were these men worthy of their Country and for you that remaine you may pray for a safer furtune but
you ought not to bee lesse venturously minded against the enemie not weighing the profit by an Oration onely which any man amplifying may recount to you that know as well as hee the many commodities that arise by fighting valiantly against your enemies but contemplating the power of the Citie in the actions of the same from day to day performed and thereby becomming enamoured of it And when this power of the Citie shall seeme great to you consider then that the same was purchased by valiant men and by men that know their duty and by men that were sensible of dishonour when they were in fight and by such men as though they failed of their attempt yet would not bee wanting to the Citie with their vertue but made vnto it a most honourable contribution For hauing euery one giuen his body to the Common-wealth they receiue in place thereof an vndecaying commendation and a most remarkeable Sepulcher not wherein they are buried so much as wherein their glory is laid vp vpon all occasions both of speech and action to bee remembred for euer For to famous men all the earth is a Sepulcher and their vertues shall bee testified not onely by the inscription in stone at home but by an vnwritten record of the minde which more then of any Monument will remaine with euery one for euer In imitation therefore of these men and placing happinesse in liberty and liberty in valour bee forward to encounter the dangers of Warre For the miserable and desperate men are not they that haue the most reason to bee prodigall of their liues but rather such men as if they liue may expect a change of fortune and whose losses are greatest if they miscarry in ought For to a man of any spirit Death which is without sense arriuing whilest hee is in vigour and common hope is nothing so bitter as after a tender life to bee brought into miserie Wherefore I will not so much bewaile as comfort you the parents that are present of these men For you know that whilest they liued they were obnoxious to manifold calamities whereas whilest you are in griefe they onely are happy that dye honourably as these haue done and to whom it hath beene granted not only to liue in prosperity but to dye in it Though it bee a hard matter to disswade you from sorrow for the losse of that which the happinesse of others wherein you also when time was reioyced your selues shall so often bring into your remembrance for sorrow is not for the want of a good neuer tasted but for the priuation of a good wee haue beene vsed to yet such of you as are of the age to haue children may beare the losse of these in the hope of more For the later children will both draw on with some the obliuion of those that are slaine and also doubly conduce to the good of the Citie by population and strength For it is not likely that they should equally giue good counsell to the State that haue not children to bee equally exposed to danger in it As for you that are past hauing of children you are to put the former and greater part of your life to the account of your gaine and supposing the remainder of it will bee but short you shall haue the glory of these for a consolation of the same For the loue of honour neuer groweth old nor doth that vnprofitable part of our life take delight as some haue said in gathering of wealth so much as it doth in being honoured As for you that are the children or brethren of these men I see you shall haue a difficult taske of aemulation For euery man vseth to praise the dead so that with oddes of vertue you will hardly get an equall reputation but still be thought a little short For men enuy their Competitors in glory while they liue but to stand out of their way is a thing honoured with an affection free from opposition And since I must say somewhat also of feminine vertue for you that are now Widdowes I shall expresse it all in this short admonition It will bee much for your honour not to recede from your Sexe and to giue as little occasion of rumour amongst the men whether of good or euill as you can Thus also haue I according to the prescript of the Law deliuered in word what was expedient and those that are here interred haue in fact beene already honoured and further their children shall bee maintained till they be at mans estate at the charge of the Citie which hath therein propounded both to these and them that liue a profitable Garland in their matches of valour For where the rewards of vertue are greatest there liue the worthiest men So now hauing lamented euery one his owne you may be gone Such was the Funerall made this Winter which ending ended the first yeere of this Warre In the very beginning of Summer the Peloponnesians and their Confederates with two thirds of their forces as before inuaded Attica vnder the conduct of Archidamus the sonne of Zeuxidamas King of Lacedaemon and after they had encamped themselues wasted the countrey about them They had not beene many dayes in Attica when the plague first began amongst the Athenians said also to haue seazed formerly on diuers other parts as about Lemnos and elsewhere but so great a plague and mortality of men was neuer remembred to haue hapned in any place before For at first neither were the Physicians able to cure it through ignorance of what it was but dyed fastest themselues as being the men that most approached the sicke nor any other art of man auailed whatsoeuer All supplications to the Gods and enquiries of Oracles and whatsoeuer other meanes they vsed of that kind proued all vnprofitable insomuch as subdued with the greatnesse of the euill they gaue them all ouer It began by report first in that part of Aethiopia that lyeth vpon Aegypt and thence fell downe into Aegypt and Afrique and into the greatest part of the Territories of the King It inuaded Athens on a sudden and touched first vpon those that dwelt in Pyraeus insomuch as they reported that the Peloponnesians had cast poyson into their Welles for Springs there were not any in that place But afterwards it came vp into the high City and then they dyed a great deale faster Now let euery man Physitian or other concerning the ground of this sickenesse whence it sprung and what causes hee thinkes able to produce so great an alteration speake according to his owne knowledge for my owne part I will deliuer but the manner of it and lay open onely such things as one may take his marke by to discouer the same if it come againe hauing beene both sicke of it my selfe and seene others sicke of the same This yeere by confession of all men was of all other for other diseases most free and healthfull If any