satisfaction, custom forbids you to proceed, without some previous
application, as if he were a proclaimed wrong-doer. But, at the same
time, make preparation for war; such will be the course of policy at
once the best for your own power and the most terror-striking to your
enemies.”[149]
[144] Thucyd. i, 80.
[145] Thucyd. i, 80. πρὸς δὲ ἄνδρας, οἳ γῆν τε ἑκὰς ἔχουσι καὶ
προσέτι πολέμου ἐμπειρότατοί εἰσι, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἄριστα
ἐξήρτυνται, πλούτῳ τε ἰδίῳ καὶ δημοσίῳ καὶ ναυσὶ καὶ ἵπποις
καὶ ὅπλοις, καὶ ὄχλῳ, ὅσος οὐκ ἐν ἄλλῳ ἑνί γε χωρίῳ Ἑλληνικῷ
ἐστὶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ξυμμάχους πολλοὺς φόρου ὑποτελεῖς ἔχουσι, πῶς
χρὴ πρὸς τούτους ῥᾳδίως πόλεμον ἄρασθαι, καὶ τίνι πιστεύσαντας
ἀπαρασκεύους ἐπειχθῆναι.
[146] Thucyd. i, 81. δέδοικα δὲ μᾶλλον μὴ καὶ τοῖς παισὶν αὐτὸν
ὑπολίπωμεν, etc.
[147] Thucyd. i, 82, 83.
[148] Thucyd. i, 84. Πολεμικοί τε καὶ εὔβουλοι διὰ τὸ εὔκοσμον
γιγνόμεθα, τὸ μὲν, ὅτι αἰδὼς σωφροσύνης πλεῖστον μετέχει,
αἰσχύνης δὲ εὐψυχία· εὔβουλοι δὲ, ἀμαθέστερον τῶν νόμων τῆς
ὑπεροψίας παιδευόμενοι, καὶ ξὺν χαλεπότητι σωφρονέστερον ἢ ὥστε
αὐτῶν ἀνηκουστεῖν· καὶ μὴ, τὰ ἀχρεῖα ξυνετοὶ ἄγαν ὄντες, τὰς
τῶν πολεμίων παρασκευὰς λόγῳ καλῶς μεμφόμενοι, ἀνομοίως ἔργῳ
ἐπεξιέναι, νομίζειν δὲ τάς τε διανοίας τῶν πέλας παραπλησίους
εἶναι, καὶ τὰς προσπιπτούσας τύχας οὐ λόγῳ διαιρετάς.
In the construction of the last sentence, I follow Haack and
Poppo, in preference to Göller and Dr. Arnold.
The wording of this part of the speech of Archidamus is awkward
and obscure, though we make out pretty well the general sense.
It deserves peculiar attention, as coming from a king of Sparta,
personally, too, a man of superior judgment. The great points
of the Spartan character are all brought out. 1. A narrow,
strictly-defined, and uniform range of ideas. 2. Compression of
all other impulses and desires, but an increased sensibility to
their own public opinion. 3. Great habits of endurance as well as
of submission.
The way in which the features of Spartan character are
deduced from Spartan institutions, as well as the pride which
Archidamus expresses in the ignorance and narrow mental range
of his countrymen, are here remarkable. A similar championship
of ignorance and narrow-mindedness is not only to be found
among those who deride the literary and oratorical tastes of
the Athenian democracy (see Aristophanês, Ran. 1070: compare
Xenophon, Memorab. i, 2, 9-49), but also in the speech of Kleon
(Thucyd. iii, 37).
[149] Thucyd. i, 84, 85.
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