was present at the Actions of both parts and no lesse at those of the Peloponnesians by reason of his exile then those of the Athenians During this time also he perfected his History so far as is now to be seene nor doth it appeare that after his exile he euer againe enioyed his Countrey It is not cleere in any Author where or when or in what yeere of his owne Age he dyed Most agree that he dyed in Banishment yet there be that haue written that after the defeat in Sicily the Athenians decreed a generall reuocation of all banished persons except those of the Family of Pisistratus and that he then returned and was afterwards put to death at Athens But this is very vnlikely to be true vnlesse by after the defeat in Sicily he meant so long after that it was also after the end of the Peloponnesian Warre because Thucydides himselfe maketh no mention of such returne though he out-liued the whole War as is manifest by his words in the fift Booke For he saith he liued in banishment twenty yeeres after his charge at Amphipolis which happened in the eighth yeere of this Warre which in the whole lasted but 27 yeeres compleat And in another place he maketh mention of the razing of the Long-walles betweene Peiraeus and the Citie which was the last stroke of this Warre They that say he dyed at Athens take their coniecture from his Monument which was there But this is not a sufficient Argument for he might bee buried there secretly as some haue written he was though he dyed abroad or his Monument might be there and as others haue affirmed he not buried in it In this variety of coniecture there is nothing more probable then that which is written by Pausanias where he describeth the Monuments of the Athenian Citie and saith thus The worthy Act of Oenobius in the behalfe of Thucydides is not without honour meaning that he had a Statue For Oenobius obtained to haue a Decree passed for his returne who returning was slaine by treachery and his Sepulchre is neere the Gates called Melirides He dyed as saith Marcellinus after the seuen and fiftieth yeere of his Age. And if it be true that is written by A. Gellius of the Ages of Hellanicus Herodotus and Thucydides then died he not before the sixty eighth yeere For if he were forty when the Warre began and liued as he did certainly to see it ended he might be more when he dyed but not lesse then sixty eight yeeres of Age. What children be left is not manifest Plato in Menone maketh mention of Milesias and Stephanus sonnes of a Thucydides of a very Noble Family but it is cleere that they were of Thucydides the Riuall of Pericles both by the name Milesias and because this Thucydides also was of the Family of Miltiades as Plutarchâ—fieth â—fieth in the Life of Cimon That he had a sonne is affirmed by Marcellinus out of the authority of Polemon but of his name there is no mention saue that a learned man readeth there in the place of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ... which is in the imperfect Copie Timotheus Thus much of the person of Thucydides Now for his writings two things are to bee considered in them Truth and Eloquution For in Truth consisteth the Soule and in Eloquution the Body of History The latter without the former is but a picture of History and the former without the latter vnapt to instruct But let vs see how our Author hath acquitted himselfe in both For the Faith of this History I shall haue the lesse to say in respect that no man hath euer yet called it into question Nor indeed could any man iustly doubt of the truth of that Writer in whom they had nothing at all to suspect of those things that could haue caused him either voluntarily to lie or ignorantly to deliuer an vntruth He ouertasked not himselfe by vndertaking an History of things done long before his time and of which he was not able to informe himselfe He was a man that had as much meanes in regard both of his dignity and wealth to find the truth of what he relateth as was needfull for a man to haue He vsed as much diligence in search of the truth noting euery thing whilest it was fresh in memory and laying out his wealth vpon intelligence as was possible for a man to vse He affected least of any man the acclamations of Popular Auditories and wrote not his History to win present applause as was the vse of that Age but for a Monument to instruct the Ages to come Which he professeth himselfe and Entitleth his Booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Possesâ—ion for euerlasting He was farre from the necessity of seruile Writers either to feare or flatter And whereas he may peraduenture be thought to haue beene maleuolent towards his Countrey because they deserued to haue him so yet hath he not written any thing that discouereth any such passion Nor is there any thing written of them that tendeth to their dishonour as Athenians but onely as People and that by the necessity of the narration not by any sought digression So that no word of his but their own actions do sometimes reproach them In summe if the truth of a History did euer appeare by the manner of relating it doth so in this History So cohaerent perspicuous and perswasiue is the whole Narration and euery part therof In the Eloquution also Two things are considerable Disposition or Method and Stile Of the Disposition here vsed by Thucydides it will be sufficient in this place briefly to obserue onely this That in his first Booke first he hath by way of Exordium deriued the State of Greece from the Cradle to the vigorous stature it then was at when he began to write and next declared the causes both reall and pretended of the Warre hee was to write of In the rest in which hee handleth the Warre it selfe he followeth distinctly and purely the order of time throughout relating what came to passe from yeere to yeere and subdiuiding each yeere into a Summer and Winter The grounds and motiues of euery action he setteth down before the action it selfe either Narratiuely or else contriueth them into the forme of Deliberatiue Orations in the persons of such as from time to time bare sway in the Common-wealth After the actions when there is iust occasion he giueth his iudgement of them shewing by what meanes the successe came either to be furthered or hindered Digressions for instructions cause and other such open conueyances of Precepts which is the Philosophers part he neuer vseth as hauing so cleerely set before mens eyes the wayes and euents of good and euill counsels that the Narration it selfe doth secretly instruct the Reader and more effectually then possibly can be done by Precept For his Stile I referre it to the iudgement of diuers antient and competent Iudges Plutarch in his Booke De gloria Atheniensium saith of
present in the whole warre and that he would write it all yet he ends with the Nauall battell at Cynossema which was fought in the 21 yeere of the warre whereas it had beene better to haue gone through with it and ended his History with that admirable and gratefull returne of the banished Athenians from Phile at which time the City recouered her liberty To this I say That it was the duty of him that had vndertaken to write the History of the Peloponnesian VVarre to begin his Narration no further of then at the causes of the same whether the Grecians were then in good or in euill estate And if the iniury vpon which the warre arose proceeded from the Athenians then the writer though an Athenian and honoured in his Countrey ought to declare the same and not to seeke nor take though at hand any other occasion to transferre the fault And that the Acts done before the time comprehended in the warre he writ of ought to haue been touched but cursorily and no more then may serue for the enlightning of the History to follow how Noble soeuer those Acts haue beene Which when he had thus touched without affection to either side and not as a louer of his Countrey but of truth then to haue proceeded to the rest with the like indifferency And to haue made an end of writing where the Warre ended which he vndertooke to write not producing his History beyond that period though that which followed were neuer so admirable and acceptable All this Thucydides hath obserued These two criminations I haue therefore set downe at large translated almost verbatim that the iudgement of Dionysius Halicarnassius may the better appeare concerning the mayne and principall vertues of a History I thinke there was neuer written so much absurdity in so few lines He is contrary to the opinion of all men that euer spake of this subiect besides himselfe and to common sense For he makes the scope of History not profit by writing truth but delight of the hearer as if it were a Song And the Argument of History he would not by any meanes haue to containe the calamities and misery of his Countrey these he would haue buried in silence but onely their glorious and splendid actions Amongst the vertues of an Historiographer hee reckons affection to his Countrey study to please the hearer to write of more then his Argument leades him to and to conceale all actions that were not to the honour of his Countrey Most manifest vices He was a Rhetorician and it seemeth he would haue nothing written but that which was most capable of Rhetoricall ornament Yet Lucian a Rhetorician also in a Treatise entituled How a History ought to be written saith thus That a writer of History ought in his writings to be a forraigner without Countrey liuing vnder his owne Law onely subiect to no King nor caring what any man will like or dislike but laying out the matter as it is The third fault he finds is this That the method of his History is gouerned by the time rather then the periods of seuerall actions For he declares in order what came to passe each Summer and Winter and is thereby forced sometimes to leaue the Narration of a siege or sedition or a Warre or other action in the middest and enter into a Relation of somewhat else done at the same time in another place and to come to the former againe when the time requires it This saith hee causeth confusion in the mind of his hearer so that he cannot comprehend distinctly the seuerall parts of the History Dionysius aymeth still at the delight of the present hearer though Thucydides himselfe professe that his scope is not that but to leaue his worke for a perpetuall possession to posterity And then haue men leasure enough to comprehend him throughly But indeed whosoeuer shall reade him once attentiuely shall more distinctly conceiue of euery action this way then the other and the method is more naturall for as much as his purpose being to write of one Peloponnesian Warre this way he hath incorporated all the parts thereof into one body so that there is vnity in the whole and the seuerall Narrations are conceiued onely as parts of that Whereas the other way he had but sowed together many little Histories and left the Peloponnesian Warre which he tooke for his subiect in a manner vnwrltten for neither any part nor the whole could iustly haue carryed such a Title Fourthly he accuseth him for the method of his first Booke in that he deriueth Greece from the infancy thereof to his owne time and in that he setteth downe the Narration of the quarrels about Corcyra and Potidaea before he entreateth of the true cause of the Warre which was the greatnesse of the Athenian dominion feared and enuyed by the Lacedaemonians For answer to this I say thus For the mentioning of the antient State of Greece he doth it briefly insisting no longer vpon it then is necessary for the well vnderstanding of the following History For without some generall notions of these first times many places of the History are the lesse easie to be vnderstood as depending vpon the knowledge of the originall of seuerall Cities and Customes which could not be at all inserted into the History it selfe but must be either supposed to before knowne by the reader or else be deliuered to him in the beginning as a necessary Preface And for his putting first the Narration of the Publique and auowed cause of this Warre and after that the true and inward motiue of the same the reprehension is absurd For it is plaine that a cause of Warre divulged and auowed how flight soeuer it be comes within the taske of the Historiographer no lesse then the Warre it selfe for without a pretext no Warre followes This preteâ—t is alwayes an iniury receiued or pretended to be receiued Whereas the inward motiue to hostility is but coniecturall and not of that euidence that a Historiographer should be alwayes bound to take notice of it as enuy to the greatnesse of another State or feare of an iniury to come Now let any man iudge whether a good writer of History ought to handle as the principall cause of Warre proclaimed iniury or concealed enuy In a word the Image of the Method vsed by Thucydides in this point is this The Quarrell about Corcyra passed on this manner and the Quarrell about Potidaea on this manner relating both at large and in both the Athenians were accused to haue done the iniury Neuerthelesse the Lacedaemonians had not vpon this iniury entred into a Warre against them but that they enuyed the greatnesse of their power and feared the consequence of their ambition I thinke a more cleare and naturall order cannot possibly be deuised Againe he sayes that he maketh a Funerall Oration which was solemnely done on all occasions through the Warre for 15 Horsemen onely that were slaine at the Brookes called Rheiti
him thus Thucydides aymeth alwayes at this to make his Auditor a Spectator and to cast his Reader into the same passions that they were in that were beholders The manner how Demosthenes aranged the Athenians on the rugged shore before Pylus How Brasidas vrged the Steeresman to runne his Gally a ground how he went to the Ladder or place in the Gally for descent how he was hurt and swowned and fell downe on the ledges of the Gally how the Spartans fought after the manner of a Land-fight vpon the Sea and the Athenians of a Sea-fight vpon Land Againe in the Sicilian Warre how a battell was fought by Sea and Land with equall fortune These things I say are so described and so euidently set before our eyes that the mind of the Reader is no lesse affected therewith then if hee had beene present in the Actions There is for his perspecuity Cicero in his Booke entituled Orator speaking of the affection of diuers Greeke Rhetoricians saith thus And therefore Herodotus and Thucydides are the more admirable For though they liued in the same Age with those J haue before named meaning Thrasymachus Gorgius and Theodorus yet were they farre from this kind of delicacy or rather indeed fâ—olery For the one without rubbe gently glideth like a still River and the other meaning Thucydides runnes stronglier and in matter of Warre as it were bloweth a trumpet of Warre And in these two as saith Theophrastus History hath rowsed her selfe and aduentured to speake both more copiously and with more ornament then in those that were before them This commends the grauity and the dignity of his language Againe in his second Booke De Oratore thus Thucydides in the Art of speaking hath in my opinion far exceeded them all For he is so full of matter that the number of his sentences doth almost reach to the number of his words and in his words he is so apt and so close that it is hard to say whether his words do more illustrate his sentences or his sentences his words There is for the pithinesse and strength of his Stile Lastly for the purity and propriety I cite Dionysius Halicarnassius whose testimony is the stronger in this point because he was a Greeke Rhetorician for his faculty and for his affection one that would no further commend him then of necessity he must His words are these There is one vertue in Eloquence the chiefest of all the rest and without which there is no other goodnesse in speech What is that That the language be pure and retaine the propriety of the Greeke tongue This they both obserue diligently For Herodotus is the best rule of the Ionique and Thucydides of the Attique Dialect These testimonies are not needfull to him that hath read the History it selfe nor at all but that this same Dionysius hath taken so much paines and applyed so much of his faculty in Rhetorique to the extenuating of the worth thereof Moreouer I haue thought it necessary to take out the principall obiections he maketh against him and without many words of mine owne to leaue them to the consideration of the Reader And first Dionysius saith thus The principall and most necessary office of any man that intendeth to write a History is to chuse a Noble Argument and gratefull to such as shall reade it And this Herodotus in my opinion hath done better then Thucydides For Herodotus hath written the ioynt History both of the Greekes and Barbarians to saue from obliuion c. But Thucydides writeth one onely Warre and that neither honourable nor fortunate which principally were to bee wished neuer to haue beene and next neuer to haue been remembred nor knowne to posterity And that he tooke an euill Argument in hand he maketh it manifest in his proeme saying That many Cities were in that Warre made desolate and vtterly destroyed partly by Barbarians partly by the Greekes themselues so many banishments and so much slaughter of men as neuer was the like before c. So that the hearers will abhorre it at the first propounding Now by how much it is better to write of the wonderfull acts both of the Barbarians and Grecians then of the pittifull and horrible calamities of the Grecians so much wiser is Herodotus in the choyce of his Argument then Thucydides Now let any man consider whether it be not more reasonable to say That the principall most necessary office of him that will write a History is to take such an Argument as is both within his power well to handle and profitable to posterity that shall reade it Which Thucydides in the opinion of all men hath done better then Herodotus For Herodotus vndertooke to write of those things of which it was impossible for him to know the truth and which delight more the eare with fabulous Narrations then satisfie the mind with truth But Thucydides writeth one Warre which how it was carried from the beginning to the end he was able certainely to informe himselfe And by propounding in his Proeme the miseries that happened in the same he sheweth that it was a great Warre and worthy to be knowne and not to be concealed from posterity for the calamities that then fell vpon the Grecians but the rather to be truely deliuered vnto them for that men profit more by looking on aduerse euents then on prosperity Therefore by how much mens miseries doe better instruct then their good successe by so much was Thucydides more happy in taking his Argument then Herodotus was wise in chusing his Dionysius againe saith thus The next office of him that will write a History is to know where to begin and where to end And in this point Herodotus seemeth to be farre more discrect then Thucydides For in the first place he layeth downe the cause for which the Barbarians began to iniure the Grecians and going on maketh an end at the punishment and the reuenge taken on the Barbarians But Thucydides begins at the good estate of the Grecians which being a Grecian and an Athenian he ought not to haue done nor ought he being of that dignity amongst the Athenians so euidently to haue laid the fault of the Warre vpon his owne City when there were other occasions enough to which he might haue imputed it Nor ought he to haue begun with the businesse of the Corcyraeans but at the more Noble Acts of his Countrey which they did immediately after the Persian Warre which afterward in conuenient place he mentioneth but it is but cursorily and not as he ought And when he had declared those with much affection as a louer of his Countrey then he should haue brought in how that the Lacedaemonians through enuy and feare but pretending other causes began the Warre and so haue descended to the Corcyraean businesse and the Decree against the Megareans or whatsoeuer else he had to put in Then in the ending of his History there be many errours committed For though he professe he was
other parts of Greece and not the least out of places in your Dominion and wee bee denyed both the League now propounded and also all other helpe from whence soeuer And if they impute it to you as a fault that you grant our request wee shall take it for a greater that you grant it not For therein you shall reject vs that are invaded and bee none of your Enemies and them who are your Enemies and make the invasion you shall not onely not oppose but also suffer to raise vnlawfull Forces in your Dominions Whereas you ought in truth either not to suffer them to take vp Mercenaries in your States or else to send vs succours also in such manner as you shall thinke good your selues but especially by taking vs into your League and so aiding vs. Many commodities as wee said in the beginning wee shew vnto you but this for the greatest that whereas they are your Enemies which is manifest enough and not weake ones but able to hurt those that stand vp against them wee offer you a Nauall not a Terrestriall League and the want of one of these is not as the want of the other Nay rather your principall aime if it could be done should bee to let none at all haue shipping but your selues or at least if that cannot bee to make such your friends as are best furnished therewith If any man now thinke thus that what we haue spoken is indeed profitable but feares if it were admitted the League were thereby broken let that man consider that his feare ioyned with strength will make his Enemies feare and his confidence hauing if hee reject vs so much the lesse strength will so much the lesse be feared Let him also remember that hee is now in consultation no lesse concerning Athens then Corcyra wherein hee forecasteth none of the best considering the present estate of affaires that makes a question whether against a Warre at hand and onely not already on foot hee should ioyne vnto it or not that Citty which with most important advantages or disadvantages will be friend or enemie For it lyeth so conveniently for sayling into Italy and Sicily that it can both prohibit any Fleet to come to Peloponnesus from thence and convoy any comming from Peloponnesus thither and is also for diuers other vses most commodious And to comprehend all in briefe consider whether wee bee to bee abandoned or not by this For Greece hauing but three Nauies of any account yours ours and that of Corinth if you suffer the other two to ioyne in one by letting the Corinthians first seaze vs you shall haue to fight by Sea at one time both against the Corcyraeans and the Peloponnesians whereas by making League with vs you shall with your Fleet augmented haue to deale against the Peloponnesians alone Thus spake the Corcyraeans and after them the Corinthians thus THE ORATION OF THE Ambassadours of CORINTH THe Corcyraeans in their Oration hauing made mention not onely of your taking them into League but also that they are wronged and vniustly warred on it is also necessarie for vs first to answer concerning both those points and then afterwards to proceed to the rest of what we haue to say to the end you may fore-know that ours are the safest demands for you to embrace and that you may vpon reason reject the needy estate of those others Whereas they alleadge in defence of their refusing to enter League with other Cities that the same hath proceeded from modesty the truth is that they tooke vp that Custome not from any vertue but meere wickednesse as being vnwilling to call any Confederate for a witnesse of their euill actions and to bee put to blush by calling them Besides their Citty being by the scituation sufficient within it selfe giueth them this point that when they doe any man a wrong they themselues are the Iudges of the same and not men appointed by consent For going seldome forth against other Nations they intercept such as by necessity are driven into their Harbour And in this consisteth their goodly pretext for not admitting Confederates not because they would not bee content to accompany others in doing euill but because they had rather doe it alone that where they were too strong they might oppresse and when there should bee none to obserue them the lesse of the profit might be shared from them and that they might escape the shame when they tooke any thing But if they had beene honest men as they themselues say they are by how much the lesse they are obnoxious to accusation so much the more meanes they haue by giuing and taking what is due to make their honesty appeare But they are not such neither towards others nor towards vs. For being our Colony they haue not onely beene euer in reuolt but now they also make warre vpon vs and say they were not sent out to be injured by vs but we say againe that wee did not send them forth to bee scorned by them but to haue the leading of them and to bee regarded by them as is fit For our other Colonies both honour and loue vs much which is an argument seeing the rest are pleased with our actions that these haue no iust cause to bee offended alone and that without some manifest wrong wee should not haue had colour to warre against them But say wee had beene in an errour it had beene well done in them to haue giuen way to our passion as it had beene also dishonourable in vs to haue insulted ouer their modesty But through pride and wealth they haue done vs wrong both in many other things and also in this that Epidamnus being ours which whilest it was vexed with Warres they neuer claimed assoone as wee came to relieue it was forcibly seazed by them and so holden They say now that before they tooke it they offered to put the cause to tryall of Iudgement But you are not to thinke that such a one will stand to Iudgement as hath advantage and is sure already of what hee offereth to pleade for but rather hee that before the tryall will admit equality in the matter it selfe as well as in the pleading whereas contrarily these men offered not this specious pretence of a Iudiciall tryall before they had besieged the Citty but after when they saw wee meant not to put it vp And now hither they bee come not content to haue beene faulty in that businesse themselues but to get in you into their confederacy no but into their conspiracy and to receiue them in this name that they are enemies to vs. But they should haue come to you then when they were most in safety not now when we haue the wrong and they the danger and when you that never partaked of their power must impart vnto them of your ayde and hauing beene free from their faults must haue an equall share from vs of the blame They should communicate their power before-hand that meane
THE ORATION OF ARCHIDAMVS MEN of Lacedaemon both I my selfe haue the experience of many Warres and I see you of the same age with mee to haue the like insomuch as you cannot desire this Warre either through inexperience as many doe nor yet as apprehending it to bee profitable or safe And whosoeuer shall temperately consider the Warre wee now deliberate of will finde it to bee no small one For though in respect of the Peloponnesians and our neighbour States wee haue equall strength and can quickly bee vpon them yet against men whose Territory is remote and are also expert Seamen and with all other things excellently furnished as money both priuate and publike Shipping Horses Armes and number more then any one part of Greece besides and that haue many Confederates paying them Tribute against such I say why should we lightly vndertake the Warre And since wee are vnfurnished whereon relying should we make such haste to it On our Nauie But therein we are too weake And if we will prouide and prepare against them it will require time On our money But therein also we are more too weake for neither hath the State any nor will priuate men readily contribute But it may be some rely on this that wee exceed them in Armes and multitude of Souldiers so that we may waste their Territories with incursions But there is much other Land vnder their dominion and by Sea they are able to bring in whatsoeuer they shall stand in need of Againe if wee assay to alienate their Confederates wee must ayde them with Shipping because the most of them are Ilanders What a Warre then will this of ours bee For vnlesse we haue the better of them in Shipping or take from them their reuenue whereby their Nauy is maintained we shall doe the most hurt to our selues And in this case to let fall the Warre againe will be no honour for vs when we are chiefly thought to haue begun it As for the hope that if we waste their Countrey the Warre will soone be at an end let that neuer lift vs vp for I feare we shall transmit it rather to our children For it is likely the Athenians haue the spirit not to be slaues to their earth nor as men without experience to be astonished at the Warre And yet I doe not aduise that wee should stupidly suffer our Confederates to bee wronged and not apprehend the Athenians in their plots against them but onely not yet to take vp Armes but to send and expostulate with them making no great shew neither of war nor of sufferance and in this meane time to make our provisiō and make friends both of Greeks Barbarians such as in any place wee can get of power either in shipping or money nor are they to be blamed that being laid in wait for as wee are by the Athenians take vnto them not Grecians only but also Barbarians for their safety and withall to set forth our owne If they listen to our Ambassadours best of all if not then two or three yeeres passing ouer our heads being better appointed wee may warre vpon them if we will And when they see our preparation and heare words that import no lesse they will perhaps relent the sooner especially hauing their grounds vnhurt and consulting vpon commodities extant and not yet spoiled For wee must thinke their Territorie to bee nothing but an Hostage and so much the more by how much the better husbanded The which wee ought therefore to spare as long as wee may lest making them desperate we make them also the harder to expugne For if vnfurnished as wee bee at the instigation of the Confederates we waste their Territory consider if in so doing we doe not make the Warre both more dishonourable to the Peloponnesians and also more difficult For though accusations as well against Cities as priuate men may bee cleered againe a warre for the pleasure of some taken vp by all the successe whereof cannot bee foreseene can hardly with honour be letten fall againe Now let no man thinke it cowardise that being many Cities we goe not presently and invade that one City for of Confederates that bring them in money they haue more then wee and Warre is not so much Warre of Armes as Warre of Money by meanes whereof Armes are vsefull especially when it is a Warre of Land-men against Sea-men And therefore let vs first prouide our selues of money and not first raise the Warre vpon the perswasion of the Confederates For wee that must be thought the causes of all euents good or bad haue also reason to take some leasure in part to foresee them As for the slacknesse and procrastination wherewith wee are reproached by the Confederates bee neuer ashamed of it for the more haste you make to the Warre you will bee the longer before you end it for that you goe to it vnprouided Besides our Citie hath beene euer free and well thought of And this which they obiect is rather to be called a Modesty proceeding vpon iudgement For by that it is that we alone are neither arrogant vpon good successe nor shrinke so much as others in aduersity Nor are wee when men prouoke vs to it with praise through the delight thereof moued to vndergoe danger more then wee thinke fit our selues nor when they sharpen vs with reprehension doth the smart thereof a iot the more preuaile vpon vs. And this modesty of ours maketh vs both good Souldiers and good Counsellours good Souldiers because shame begetteth modesty and valour is most sensible of shame good Counsellours in this that wee are brought vp more simply then to disesteeme the Lawes and by seuerity more modestly then to disobey them And also in that that wee doe not like men exceeding wise in things needlesse finde fault brauely with the preparation of the Enemie and in effect not assault him accordingly but doe thinke our neighbours cogitations like our owne and that the euents of Fortune cannot be discerned by a speech and doe therefore alwayes so furnish our selues really against the enemy as against men well aduised For we are not to build our hopes vpon the ouersights of them but vpon the safe foresight of our selues Nor must wee thinke that there is much difference betweene man and man but him onely to bee the best that hath beene brought vp amongst the most difficulties Let vs not therefore cast aside the institutions of our Ancestours which wee haue so long retained to our profit nor let vs of many mens liues of much money of many Cities and much honour hastily resolue in so small a part of one day but at leasure the which wee haue better commodity then any other to doe by reason of our power Send to the Athenians about the matter of Potidaea send about that wherein the Confederates say they are iniured and the rather because they bee content to referre the cause to Iudgement And one that offereth himselfe to Iudgement may not
waste the Territories of the King And then first came vp amongst the Athenians the Office of Treasurers of Greece who were receiuers of the Tribute for so they called this money contributed And the first Tribute that was taxed came to 460. Talents The Treasurie was at Delos and their meetings were kept there in the Temple Now vsing their authority at first in such maner as that the Confederates liued vnder their own Laws and were admitted to Cōmon Councell by the War and administration of the common affaires of Greece from the Persian War to this what against the Barbarians what against their own innouating Confederates and what against such of the Peloponnesians as chanced alwaies in euery Warre to fall in they effected those great matters following which also I haue therefore written both because this place hath beene pretermitted by all that haue written before me For they haue either compiled the Grecian acts before the invasion of the Persians or that invasion only Of which number is Hellanicus who hath also touched them in his Attique Historie but briefly and without exact mention of the times and also because they carry with them a demonstration of how the Athenian Empire grew vp And first vnder the Conduct of Cimon the sonne of Miltiades they tooke Eion vpon the Riuer Strymon from the Medes by siege and carried away the Inhabitants Captiues Then the I le Scyros in the Aegean Sea inhabited by the Dolopes the Inhabitants whereof they also carried away Captiues and planted therein a Colony of their owne Likewise they made Warre on the Caristians alone without the rest of the Euboeans and those also after a time came in by composition After this they warred on the reuolted Naxians and brought them in by siege And this was the first Confederate Citie which contrary to the Ordinance they depriued of their free estate though afterwards as it came to any of their turnes they did the like by the rest Amongst other causes of reuolts the principall was their failing to bring in their Tribute and Gallies and their refusing when they did so to follow the Warres For the Athenians exacted strictly and were grieuous to them by imposing a necessity of toyle which they were neither accustomed nor willing to vndergoe They were also otherwise not so gentle in their gouernment as they had beene nor followed the Warre vpon equall termes and could easily bring backe to their subiection such as should revolt And of this the Confederates themselues were the causes for through this refusall to accompanie the Armie the most of them to the end they might stay at home were ordered to excuse their Gallies with Money as much as it came to By which meanes the Nauy of the Athenians was increased at the cost of their Confederates and themselues vnprouided and without meanes to make Warre in case they should reuolt After this it came to passe that the Athenians and their Confederates fought against the Medes both by Land and by Water vpon the Riuer of Eurymedon in Pamphylia and in one and the same day the Athenians had Victory in both and tooke or sunke all the Phoenician Fleet to the number of 200. Gallies After this againe happened the revolt of Thasus vpon a difference about the places of Trade and about the Mines they possessed in the opposite parts of Thrace And the Athenians going thither with their Fleet ouerthrew them in a Battell at Sea and landed in the Iland But hauing about the same time sent 10000. of their owne and of their Confederates people into the Riuer of Strymon for a Colonie to be planted in a place called then the Nine-wayes now Amphipolis They wonne the said Nine-wayes which was held by the Eidonians but advancing farther towards the heart of the Countrey of Thrace they were defeated at Drabescus a Citie of the Eidonians by the whole power of the Thracians that were Enemies to this new-built Towne of the Nine-wayes The Thasians in the meane time being ouercome in diuers Battels and besieged sought ayde of the Lacedaemonians and entreated them to divert the Enemie by an invasion of Attica which vnknowne to the Athenians they promised to doe and also had done it but by an Earth-quake that then happened they were hindred In which Earth-quake their Helotes and of neighbouring Townes the Thuriatae and Aetheans reuolted and seazed on Ithome Most of these Helotes were the posterity of the ancient Messenians brought into seruitude in former times whereby also it came to passe that they were called all Messenians Against these had the Lacedaemonians a Warre now at Ithome The Thasians in the third yeere of the Siege rendred themselues to the Athenians vpon condition to raze their Walles to deliuer vp their Gallies to pay both the money behinde and for the future as much as they were wont and to quit both the Mines and the Continent The Lacedaemonians when the Warre against those in Ithome grew long amongst other their Confederates sent for aide to the Athenians who also came with no small Forces vnder the command of Cimon They were sent for principally for their reputation in murall assaults the long continuance of the Siege seeming to require men of ability in that kinde whereby they might perhaps haue gotten the place by force And vpon this Iourney grew the first manifest dissension betweene the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians For the Lacedaemonians when they could not take the place by assault fearing lest the audacious and innovating humour of the Athenians whom withall they esteemed of a contrary Race might at the perswasion of those in Ithome cause some alteration if they staid dismissed them alone of all the Confederates not discouering their iealousie but alledging that they had no further need of their Seruice But the Athenians perceiuing that they were not sent away vpon good cause but onely as men suspected made it a heynous matter and conceiving that they had better deserued at the Lacedaemonians hands as soone as they were gone left the League which they had made with the Lacedaemonians against the Persian and became Confederates with their Enemies the Argiues and then both Argiues and Athenians tooke the same Oath and made the same League with the Thessalians Those in Ithome when they could no longer hold out in the tenth yeere of the Siege rendred the place to the Lacedaemonians vpon condition of security to depart out of Peloponnesus and that they should no more returne and whosoeuer should bee taken returning to bee the Slaue of him that should take him For the Lacedaemonians had before beene warned by a certaine answer of the Pythian Oracle to let goe the Suppliant of Iupiter Ithometes So they came forth they and their Wiues and their Children And the Athenians for hatred they bore to the Lacedaemonians receiued them and put them into
they would abrogate the Act concerning the Megareans By which Act they were forbidden both the Fayres of Attica and all Ports within the Athenian dominion But the Athenians would not obey them neither in the rest of their Commands nor in the abrogation of that Act but recriminated the Megareans for hauing tilled holy ground and vnset-out with bounds and for receiuing of their Slaues that reuolted But at length when the last Ambassadours from Lacedaemon were arriued namely Rhamphias Melesippus and Agesander and spake nothing of that which formerly they were wont but onely this That the Lacedaemonians desire that there should be Peace which may bee had if you will suffer the Grecians to bee gouerned by their owne Lawes The Athenians called an Assembly and propounding their opinions amongst themselues thought good after they had debated the matter to giue them an answer once for all And many stood forth and deliuered their mindes on eyther side some for the Warre and some that this Act concerning the Megareans ought not to stand in their way to Peace but to bee abrogated And Pericles the sonne of Xantippus the principall man at that time of all Athens and most sufficient both for speech and action gaue his aduice in such manner as followeth THE ORATION OF PERICLES MEN of Athens I am still not onely of the same opinion not to giue way to the Peloponnesians notwithstanding I know that men haue not the same passions in the Warre it selfe which they haue when they are incited to it but change their opinions with the events but also I see that I must now aduise the same things or very neere to what I haue before deliuered And I require of you with whom my counsell shall take place that if wee miscarry in ought you will eyther make the best of it as decreed by Common Consent or if wee prosper not to attribute it to your owne wisdome onely For it falleth out with the euents of Actions no lesse then with the purposes of man to proceed with vncertainety which is also the cause that when any thing happeneth contrary to our expectation wee vse to lay the fault on Fortune That the Lacedaemonians both formerly and especially now take counsell how to doe vs mischiefe is a thing manifest For whereas it is said in the Articles that in our mutuall controuersies we shall giue and receiue trials of Iudgement and in the meane time eyther side hold what they possesse they neuer yet sought any such tryall themselues nor will accept of the same offered by vs. They will cleere themselues of their accusations by Warre rather then by words and come hither no more now to expostulate but to command For they command vs to arise from before Potidaea and to restore the Aeginetae to the liberty of their owne Lawes and to abrogate the Act concerning the Megareans And they that come last command vs to restore all the Grecians to their liberty Now let none of you conceiue that wee shall goe to Warre for a trifle by not abrogating the Act concerning Megara yet this by them is pretended most and that for the abrogation of it the Warre shall stay nor retaine a scruple in your mindes as if a small matter moued you to the Warre for euen this small matter containeth the tryall and constancy of your resolution Wherein if you giue them way you shall hereafter bee commanded a greater matter as men that for feare will obey them likewise in that But by a stiffe-deniall you shall teach them plainely to come to you heereafter on termes of more equality Resolue therefore from this occasion eyther to yeeld them obedience before you receiue damage or if wee must haue Warre which for my part I thinke is best be the pretence weighty or light not to giue way nor keepe what wee possesse in feare For a great and a little claime imposed by equals vpon their neighbours before Iudgement by way of command hath one and the same vertue to make subiect As for the Warre how both wee and they be furnished and why wee are not like to haue the worse by hearing the particulars you shall now vnderstand The Peloponnesians are men that liue by their labour without money eyther in particular or in common stocke Besides in long Warres and by Sea they are without experience for that the Warres which they haue had one against another haue beene but short through pouerty and such men can neither man their Fleets nor yet send out their Armies by Land very often because they must bee farre from their owne wealth and yet by that be maintained and be besides barred the vse of the Sea It must bee a stocke of money not forced Contributions that support the Warres and such as liue by their labour are more ready to serue the Warres with their bodies then with their money For they make account that their bodies will out-liue the danger but their money they thinke is sure to bee spent especially if the Warre as it is likely should last So that the Peloponnesians and their Confederates though for one Battell they bee able to stand out against all Greece besides yet to maintaine a Warre against such as haue their preparations of another kinde they are not able in as much as not hauing one and the same counsell they can speedily performe nothing vpon the occasion and hauing equality of vote and being of seuerall races euery one will presse his particular interest whereby nothing is like to bee fully executed For some will desire most to take reuenge on some enemie and others to haue their estates least wasted and being long before they can assemble they take the lesser part of their time to debate the Common businesse and the greater to dispatch their owne priuate affaires And euery one supposeth that his owne neglect of the Common estate can doe little hurt and that it will bee the care of some body else to looke to that for his owne good Not obseruing how by these thoughts of euery one in seuerall the Common businesse is ioyntly ruined But their greatest hindrance of all will be their want of money which being raised slowly their actions must bee full of delay which the occasions of warre will not endure As for their fortifying here and their Nauie they are matters not worthy feare For it were a hard matter for a Citie equall to our owne in time of peace to fortifie in that manner much lesse in the Countrey of an Enemie and wee no lesse fortified against them And if they had a Garrison here though they might by excursions and by the receiuing of our Fugitiues annoy some part of our Territory yet would not that bee enough both to besiege vs and also to hinder vs from sayling into their Territories and from taking reuenge with our Fleet which is the thing wherein our strength lyeth For wee haue more experience in Land-seruice by vse of
two haste and anger whereof the one is euer accompanied with madnesse and the other with want of iudgement And whosoeuer maintaineth that words are not instructers to deeds either hee is not wise or doth it vpon some priuate interest of his owne Not wise if hee thinke that future and not apparent things may bee demonstrated otherwise then by words Interessed if desiring to carry an ill matter and knowing that a bad cause will not beare a good speech hee goe about to deterre his opposers and hearers by a good calumniation But they of all others are most intolerable that when men giue publike aduice will accuse them also of bribery For if they charged a man with no more but ignorance when he had spoken in vaine hee might yet depart with the opinion of a foole But when they impute corruption also if his counsell take place he is still suspected and if it doe not take place he shall be held not onely a foole but also voide of honesty The Common-wealth gets no good by such courses for through feare heereof it will want counsellours and the State would doe their businesse for the most part well if this kinde of Citizens were they that had least ability in speaking for they should then perswade the City to the fewer errours For a good Statesman should not goe about to terrifie those that contradict him but rather to make good his counsell vpon liberty of speech And a wise State ought not either to adde vnto or on the other side to derogate from the honour of him that giueth good aduice nor yet punish nay nor disgrace the man whose counsell they receiue not And then neither would hee that lighteth on good aduice deliuer any thing against his owne conscience out of ambition of further honour and to please the Auditory nor hee that doth not couet thereupon by gratifying the people some way or other that hee also may endeere them But wee doe here the contrary and besides if any man be suspected of corruption though hee giue the best counsell that can be giuen yet through enuy for this vncertaine opinion of his gaine we lose a certaine benefit to the Common-wealth And our custome is to hold good counsell giuen suddenly no lesse suspect then bad By which meanes as he that giues the most dangerous counsell must get the same receiued by fraud so also he that giues the most sound aduice is forced by lying to get himselfe beleeued So that the Common-wealth is it alone which by reason of these suspitious imaginations no man can possibly benefit by the plaine and open way without artifice For if any man shall doe a manifest good vnto the Common-wealth he shall presently be suspected of some secret gaine vnto himselfe in particular We therefore that in the most important affaires and amidst these iealousies doe giue our aduice haue need to foresee farther then you that looke not farre and the rather because we stand accountable for our counsell and you are to render no account of your hearing it For if the perswader and the perswaded had equall harme you would be the more moderate Iudges But now according to the passion that takes you when at any time your affaires miscary you punish the sentence of that one onely that gaue the counsell not the many sentences of your owne that were in fault as well as his For my owne part I stood not forth with any purpose of contradiction in the businesse of the Mitylenians nor to accuse any man For wee contend not now if we be wise about the iniury done by them but about the wisest counsell for our selues For how great soeuer be their fault yet I would neuer aduise to haue them put to death vnlesse it bee for our profit nor yet would I pardon them though they were pardonable vnlesse it be good for the Common-wealth And in my opinion our deliberation now is of the future rather then of the present And whereas Cleon contendeth that it will be profitable for the future to put them to death in that it will keepe the rest from rebelling I contending likewise for the future affirme the contrary And I desire you not to reiect the profit of my aduice for the faire pretexts of his which agreeing more with your present anger against the Mitylenians may quickly perhaps win your consent We pleade not iudicially with the Mitylenians so as to need arguments of equity but we consult of them which way we may serue our selues of them to our most aduantage hereafter I say therefore that death hath been in States ordained for a punishment of many offences and those not so great but farre lesse then this Yet encouraged by hope men hazzard themselues Nor did any man euer yet enter into a practice which he knew he could not goe through with And a Citie when it reuolueth supposeth it selfe to be better furnished either of themselues or by their Confederates then it is or else it would neuer take the enterprise in hand They haue it by nature both men and Cities to commit offences nor is there any Law that can preuent it For men haue gone ouer all degrees of punishment augmenting them still in hope to be lesse annoyed by Malefactors and it is likely that gentler punishments were inflicted of old euen vpon the most haynous crimes but that in tract of time men continuing to transgresse they were extended afterwards to the taking away of life and yet they still transgresse And therefore either some greater terrour then death must be deuised or death will not bee enough for coertion For pouerty will alwayes adde boldnesse to necessity and wealth couetousnesse to pride and contempt And the other middle fortunes they also through humane passion according as they are seuerally subiect to some insuperable one or other impell men to danger But Hope and Desire worke this effect in all estates And this as the Leader that as the companion this contriuing the enterprize that suggesting the successe are the cause of most crimes that are committed And being least discerned are more mischieuous then euils seene Besides these two Fortune also puts men forward as much as any thing else For presenting her selfe sometimes vnlookt for she prouoketh some to aduenture though not prouided as they ought for the purpose and specially Cities because they venture for the greatest matters as liberty and dominion ouer others and amongst a generality euery one though without reason somewhat the more magnifies himselfe in particular In a word it is a thing impossible and of great simplicitie to beleeue when humane nature is earnestly bent to doe a thing that by force of Law or any other danger it can be diuerted We must not therefore relying on the security of capitall punishment decree the worst against them nor make them desperate as if there were no place to repent and as soone as they can to cancell their offence For obserue if a Citie reuolted should
actions that passed as they are distinctly set down and he shall find that that deserueth not to be taken for a Peace in which they neither rendred all nor accepted all according to the Articles Besides in the Mantinean and Epidaurian wars and in other actions it was on both sides infringed Moreouer the Confederates on the borders of Thrace continued in hostility as before and the Boeotians had but a truce from one ten dayes to another So that with the first ten yeeres war and with this doubtfull cessation the war that followed after it a man shal find counting by the times that it came to iust so many yeeres and some few dayes that those who built vpon the prediction of the Oracles haue this number onely to agree And I remember yet that from the very beginning of this War and so on till the end it was vttered by many that it should be of thrice 9 yeeres continuance And for the time therof I liued in my strength applied my mind to gaine an accurate knowledge of the same It hapned also that I was banished my countrey for 20 yeeres after my charge at Amphipolis whereby being present at the affaires of both and especially of the Lacedaemonians by reason of my exile I could at leasure the better learn the truth of all that passed The quarrels therefore perturbations of the Peace after those ten yeres that which followed according as from time to time the Warre was carried I will now pursue After the concluding of the 50 yeeres Peace and the League which followed and when those Ambassadors which were sent for out of the rest of Peloponnesus to accept the said Peace were departed from Lacedaemon the Corinthians the rest going all to their owne Cities turning first to Argos entred into Treaty with some of the Argiue Magistrates to this purpose That the Lacedaemonians had made a Peace and League with the Athenians their heretofore mortall enemies tending not to the benefit but to the enslauing of Peloponnesus it behoued them to consider of a course for the safety of the same and to make a Decree That any City of the Grecians that would and were a free City and admitted the like and equall trials of Iudgement with theirs might make a League with the Argiues for the one mutually to aide the other and to assigne them a Few men with absolute authority from the State to treat with and that it should not be motioned to the People to the end that if the multitude would not agree to it it might be vnknowne that euer they had made such a motion affirming that many would come into this Confederacy vpon hatred to the Lacedaemonians And the Corinthians when they had made this ouerture went home These men of Argos hauing heard them and reported their proposition both to the Magistrates to the People the Argiues ordered the same accordingly and elected 12 men with whō it should be lawfull for any Grecian to make the League that would except the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians with neither of which they were to enter into any League without the consent of the Argiue People And this the Argiues did the more willingly admit as well for that they saw the Lacedaemonians would make Warre vpon them for the Truce betweene them was now vpon expiring as also because they hoped to haue the Principality of Peloponnesus For about this time Lacedaemon had but a bad report and was in contempt for the losses it had receiued And the Argiues in all points were in good estate as not hauing concurred in the Attique War but rather been in peace with both and thereby gotten in their reuenue Thus the Argiues receiued into League all such Grecians as came vnto them First of all therefore came in the Mantineans and their Confederates which they did for fear of the Lacedaemonians For a part of Arcadia during the warre of Athens was come vnder the obedience of the Mantineans ouer which they thought the Lacedaemonians now they were at rest would not permit them any longer to cōmand And therfore they willingly ioyned with the Argiues as being they thought a great City euer enemy to the Lacedaemonians gouerned as their owne by Democracy When the Mantineans had reuolted the rest of Peloponnesus began also to mutter amongst themselues that it was fit for them to do the like conceiuing that there was somewhat in it more then they knew that made the Mantineans to turne and were also angry with the Lacedaemonians amongst many other causes for that it was written in the Articles of the Attique Peace That it should be lawfull to adde vnto or take away from the same whatsoeuer should seeme good to the two Cities of the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians For this was the Article that the most troubled the Peloponnesians and put them into a iealousie that the Lacedaemonians might haue a purpose ioyning with the Athenians to bring them into subiection For in iustice the power of changing the Articles ought to haue beene ascribed to all the Confederates in generall Whereupon many fearing such an intention applyed themselues to the Argiues euery one seuerally striuing to come into their League The Lacedemonians perceiuing this stirre to begin in Peloponnesus and that the Corinthians were both the contriuers of it and entred themselues also into the League with Argos sent Ambassadors vnto Corinth with intention to preuent the sequell of it and accused them both for the whole designe and for their owne reuolt in particular which they intended to make from them to the League of the Argiues saying that they should therein infringe their oath and that they had already done vniustly to refuse the Peace made with the Athenians for as much as it is an Article of their League that what the maior part of the Confederates should conclude vnlesse it were hindred by some God or Heroe the same was to stand good But the Corinthians those Confederates which had refused the Peace as well as they being now at Corinth for they had sent for them before in their answer to the Lacedaemonians did not openly alledge the wrongs they had receiued as that the Athenians had not restored Solium nor Anactorium nor any thing else they had in this Warre lost but pretended not to betray those of Thrace for that they had in particular taken an oath vnto them both when together with Potidaea they first reuolted and also another afterwards And therefore they said they did not breake the oath of their League by reiecting the Peace with Athens For hauing sworne vnto them by the Gods they should in betraying them offend the Gods And whereas it is said Vnlesse some God or Heroe hinder it This appeareth to be a Diuine hinderance Thus they answered for their old oath Then for their League with the Argiues they gaue this answer That when they had aduised