Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 3.39

[1] "To put you out of this humour, I say unto you that the Mytilenaeans have done us more injury than ever did any one city.

[2] For those that have revolted through the over-hard pressure of our government or that have been compelled to it by the enemy, I pardon them. But they that were islanders and had their city walled so as they needed not fear our enemies but only by sea, in which case also they were armed for them with sufficient provision of galleys, and they that were permitted to have their own laws and whom we principally honoured, and yet have done thus, what have they done but conspired against us and rather warred upon us than revolted from us (for a revolt is only of such as suffer violence) and joined with our bitterest enemies to destroy us? This is far worse than if they had warred against us for increasing of their own power.

[3] But these men would neither take example by their neighbour's calamity, who are, all that revolted, already subdued by us; nor could their own present felicity make them afraid of changing it into misery, but being bold against future events and aiming at matters above their strength though below their desires, have taken arms against us and preferred force before justice. For no sooner they thought they might get the victory but immediately, though without injury done them, they rose against us. But with cities that come to great and unexpected prosperity, it is usual to turn insolent;

[4] whereas most commonly that prosperity which is attained according to the course of reason is more firm than that which cometh unhoped for; and such cities, as one may say, do more easily keep off an adverse, than maintain a happy, fortune.

[5] Indeed we should not formerly have done any honour more to the Mytilenaeans than to the rest of our confederates, for then they had never come to this degree of insolence. For it is natural to men to contemn those that observe them and to have in admiration such as will not give them way.

[6] Now therefore let them be punished according to their wicked dealing, and let not the fault be laid upon a few and the people be absolved. For they have all alike taken arms against us; and the commons, if they had been constrained to it, might have fled hither and have recovered their city afterwards again. But they, esteeming it the safer adventure to join with the few, are alike with them culpable of the revolt.

[7] Have also in consideration your confederates; and if you inflict the same punishment on them that revolt upon compulsion of the enemy that you do on them that revolt of their own accord, who, think you, will not revolt, though on light pretence, seeing that speeding they win their liberty and failing their case is not incurable?

[8] Besides, that against every city we must be at a new hazard, both of our persons and fortunes. Wherein with the best success we recover but an exhausted city and lose that wherein our strength lieth, the revenue of it; but miscarrying, we add these enemies to our former and must spend that time in warring against our own confederates, which we needed to employ against the enemies we have already.

[1] In order to keep you from this, I proceed to show that no one state has ever injured you as much as Mitylene .

[2] I can make allowance for those who revolt because they cannot bear our empire, or who have been forced to do so by the enemy. But for those who possessed an island with fortifications; who could fear our enemies only by sea, and there had their own force of triremes to protect them; who were independent and held in the highest honor by you—to act as these have done, this is not revolt—revolt implies oppression; it is deliberate and wanton aggression; an attempt to ruin us by siding with our bitterest enemies; a worse offence than a war undertaken on their own account in the acquisition of power.

[3] The fate of those of their neighbors who had already rebelled and had been subdued, was no lesson to them; their own prosperity could not dissuade them from affronting danger; but blindly confident in the future, and full of hopes beyond their power though not beyond their ambition, they declared war and made their decision to prefer might to right, their attack being determined not by provocation but by the moment which seemed propitious.

[4] The truth is that great good fortune coming suddenly and unexpectedly tends to make a people insolent: in most cases it is safer for mankind to have success in reason than out of reason; and it is easier for them, one may say, to stave off adversity than to preserve prosperity.

[5] Our mistake has been to distinguish the Mitylenians as we have done: had they been long ago treated like the rest, they never would have so far forgotten themselves, human nature being as surely made arrogant by consideration, as it is awed by firmness.

[6] Let them now therefore be punished as their crime requires, and do not, while you condemn the aristocracy, absolve the people. This is certain, that all attacked you without distinction, although they might have come over to us, and been now again in possession of their city. But no, they thought it safer to throw in their lot with the aristocracy and so joined their rebellion!

[7] Consider therefore! if you subject to the same punishment the ally who is forced to rebel by the enemy, and him who does so by his own free choice, which of them, think you, is there that will not rebel upon the slightest pretext; when the reward of success is freedom, and the penalty of failure nothing so very terrible?

[8] We meanwhile shall have to risk our money and our lives against one state after another; and if successful, shall receive a ruined town from which we can no longer draw the revenue upon which our strength depends; while if unsuccessful, we shall have an enemy the more upon our hands, and shall spend the time that might be employed in combating our existing foes in warring with our own allies.

„Davon nun möchte ich euch abbringen, und deßhalb
weise ich euch nach, wie sehr diese Eine Stadt der Mitylenäer sich an
euch versündigt hat. Für solche, die nicht im Stande waren, die
Forderungen eurer Herrschaft zu befriedigen, oder die von den
Feinden gezwungen wurden, und so abgefallen sind, für die habe auch ich
Verzeihung. Bewohner einer Insel aber, und zwar einer befestigten
Insel, die nur von der Seeseite her einen Angriff unserer Feinde'zu
fürchten gehabt hätten — und selbst für diesen Fall waren sie durch
eine Zahl ausgerüsteter Dreiruderer nicht ohne Schutz — Leute, die
nach ihren eigenen Gesetzen lebten und von uns auf's Höchste geehrt
wurden, — wenn die solches thaten, haben sie damit etwas Anderes
gethan, als aus uns einen Angriff gemacht? Und ist das nicht eher ein
Anfall als ein Abfall zu nennen? Denn Abfall findet doch nur bei
denen Statt, die vergewältigt worden. Und haben sie nicht im
Bunde mit unseren ärgsten Feinden uns zu verderben gesucht? Und ^{1 2}
das ist doch viel verbrecherischer, als wenn sie mit eigener Macht,
dafern sie diese besessen hätten, kriegführend gegen uns ausgetreten
wären. Weder haben sie sich das Unglück der Andern zum
warnenden Beispiel dienen lassen, die bereits früher ihren Abfall von uns
mit der Niederlage gebüßt haben, noch auch gab ihnen ihr
gegenwärtiger Wohlstand Grund zur Besinnung, daß sie sich nicht in'S
Verderben stürzten, vielmehr forderten sie die Zukunft mit großer Keckheit
heraus, und geschwellt von Hoffnungen, die eben so weit über ihre
Kräfte hinausgingen, wie sie noch hinter ihren Wünschen
zurückblieben, haben sie den Krieg gewählt und sich nicht besonnen, Gewalt
vor Recht gehen zu lassen; denn unter Umständen, wo sie glaubten,
mit uns fertig werden zu können, haben sie uns angegriffen, ohne
beleidigt worden zu sein. So pflegen sich ja meist die Staaten zum
Uebermuth zu wenden, welchen in kurzer Zeit und unerwartet großer
Wohlstand zu Theil geworden ist. Gewöhnlich ist aber das Glück,
wenn es dem Menschen nach dem gemeinen Gang der Dinge zu Theil
wird, beständiger, als wenn es unerwartet.gekommen ist; und man
darf wohl auch sagen, daß es leichter ist, ein Unglück fern zu halten,
als das Glück sich auf die Dauer zuzugesellen. Wir hätten aber den
Mytilenäern schon längst nicht vor allen Andern solche Ehre erweisen
sollen, so hätte ihr Uebermuth nicht so ausgeartet; denn der Mensch
ist nun-einmal von solcher Art, daß er den verachtet, der ihm den
Hof macht, und sich vor dem beugt, der feste Haltung zeigt. So
sollen sie denn nun auch bestraft werden, wie sie es verdienen, und
nicht etwa dürft ihr nur der Minderzahl die Schuld beimessen, und
den großen Haufen laufen lassen. Denn Alle mit einander haben sie
uns angegriffen. Hätten die Andern zu uns gehalten, so könnten sie
jetzt weiter ihren Staat in Unabhängigkeit regieren; aber sie haben
eben das Wagestück der Minderzahl für weniger bedenklich gehalten
und sind mitabgefallen. Und wenn ihr von euren Bundesgenossen
diejenigen, die freiwillig abgefallen sind, nur mit derselben Strafe
belegt, wie diejenigen, die vom Feinde dazu gezwungen wurden, wer,
glaubt ihr, werde dann nicht die Gelegenheit zum Abfall vom Zaun
brechen, da ihm im Fall des Gelingens die Freiheit winkt, und wenn
die Sache schief geht, ihn eben keine sonderliche Strafe trifft? Da
wird sofort unser Vermögen und Leben von jeder einzelnen Stadt
be droht sein. Und wenn ihr im günstigen Fall eine Stadt zu Grunde ³
gerichtet habt, wo bleiben da für die Zukunft die Steuern und
Einkünfte, auf denen unsere Macht beruht? Bleiben wir aber im
Nachtheil, so haben wir uns zu unsern dermaligen Feinden noch neue aus
den Hals gezogen, und die Zeit über, da wir unsern jetzigen Feinden
Widerstand leisten sollten, werden wir uns mit unseren eigenen
Bundesgenossen herumzuschlagen haben."

XXXIX. « Je m’efforcerai de vous mettre en garde contre ces tendances, en vous montrant que Mytilène, à elle seule, vous a fait la plus cruelle offense que vous ayez jamais reçue. En effet, qu’un peuple hors d’état de supporter votre domination, ou forcé par l’ennemi, se détache de vous, je conçois l’indulgence ; mais pour un peuple qui occupe une île fortifiée, qui ne peut redouter nos ennemis que par mer, qui, même de ce côté, a sous la main des galères pour les repousser ; pour un peuple que nous avons laissé indépendant et honoré entre tous, une pareille conduite est-elle autre chose qu’un complot et une révolte ? Ce n’est pas une défection, — car il n’y a défection que dans le cas d’oppression violente ; — c’est une conspiration avec nos plus cruels ennemis, pour nous anéantir. Le crime est bien plus grand que si c’était un État puissant par lui-même qui vous eût rendu guerre pour guerre. Rien ne leur a servi d’exemple, ni les désastres de ceux qui, après s’être détachés de vous, sont retombés sous votre puissance ; ni le bonheur dont ils jouissaient et qui eût dû les faire reculer devant le danger. Pleins d’une présomptueuse confiance dans l’avenir, tout gonflés d’espérances supérieures à leur puissance, mais inférieures encore à leurs désirs, ils ont pris les armes et préféré la force à la justice ; du moment où ils ont cru entrevoir le succès, ils nous ont attaqués, sans avoir reçu de nous aucune offense. D’ordinaire ce sont les Étais parvenus soudainement à une fortune inespérée qui se portent ainsi à d’insolentes prétentions ¹ :en général un bonheur prévu, et qui ne dépasse pas nos espérances, est bien plus stable que celui qui nous surprend inopinément ; et il est plus facile, en quelque sorte, de lutter contre le malheur que de se maintenir dans la prospérité.

« Nous eussions dû, depuis longtemps, ne pas traiter les Mytiléniens avec plus d’égards que les autres ; ils n’en seraient pas venus à ce degré d’insolence ; car il est naturel à l’homme de mépriser qui le flatte et de respecter qui lui résiste. Qu’ils soient donc punis maintenant comme le mérite leur faute ; et vous, n’allez pas absoudre le peuple, en n’imputant le crime qu’au petit nombre ; car tous ont également conspiré. S’ils s’étaient tournés vers vous, comme ils le pouvaient, ils seraient maintenant rendus à leurs foyers ; mais ils ont cru plus sûr de courir les mêmes dangers que leurs chefs et se sont associés à leur défection. Songez-y bien : si vous infligez le même châtiment à ceux de vos alliés qui vous abandonnent forcés par l’ennemi, et à ceux qui le font de leur propre mouvement, croyez-vous qu’il y en ait un seul qui ne saisisse le moindre prétexte pour vous abandonner, lorsqu’il aura en perspective la liberté pour prix du succès, et, en cas d’échec, un traitement qui n’a rien de rigoureux. Nous, au contraire, il nous faudra risquer contre chaque ville et nos trésors et nos personnes ; si nous réussissons, nous aurons pris une ville ruinée, et perdu pour l’avenir les revenus qui font notre force ; si nous échouons, nous verrons un nouvel adversaire s’ajouter à ceux que nous avons déjà, et il nous faudra consacrer à combattre nos propres alliés le temps que nous devrions employer à lutter contre nos ennemis actuels.

« Je m’efforce de vous détourner de ces travers, en vous montrant que les Mytiléniens vous ont fait le plus sanglant outrage que jamais ville ait commis. Quant à moi, si quelques cités se révoltent par impatience de votre joug ou par l’effet d’une pression étrangère, je suis presque tenté de leur pardonner/ Mais pour des gens qui habitent une île, une place fortifiée, que nos ennemis peuvent attaquer seulement du côté de la mer, où même ils ont assez de vaisseaux pour se défendre; qui d’ailleurs se gouvernent par leurs propres lois et qui étaient traités par vous avec une distinction sans exemple, je demande si une pareille conduite ne constitue pas un complot, une insurrection plutôt qu’une défection, — car la défection suppose une oppression violente, — enfin une connivence avec nos plus cruels ennemis pour les aider à nous détruire.

« Leur crime est bien plus grand que si, appuyés sur leurs propres forces, ils nous eussent fait une guerre déclarée. Rien ne leur a servi de leçon : ni le malheur des peuples qui, après s’être révoltés, sont retombés sous le joug ; ni la prospérité dont ils jouissaient, et qui aurait dû les retenir sur le bord de l’abîme. Pleins de confiance enl’avenir et d'un espoir au-dessus de leurs forces, quoique au-dessous de leurs prétentions, ils ont entrepris la guerre et préféré la violence à la justice. Dès qu’ils se sont crus les plus forts, ils nous ont assaillis sans avoir reçu d’injures. Combien d’États ne voit-on pas, brusquement parvenus à une prospérité inespérée, en concevoir de l’arrogance? Au contraire un bonheur qui n’a rien d’imprévu est moins dangereux que celui qu’on n’attendait pas. Il est plus aisé de repousser la mauvaise fortune que de se maintenir dans la bonne.

« Il y a longtemps que nous aurions dû traiter les Mytiléniens comme les autres. C’eût été le moyen de les rendre moins orgueilleux; car il est naturel à l’homme de mépriser qui lé ménage et de respecter qui lui tient tête. Qu’ils reçoivent donc aujourd’hui la juste punition de leur conduite.

« Et n’allez pas absoudre la multitude pour vous en prendre aux aristocrates seuls. Ils sont tous également coupables. Ils n’avaient qu’à recourir à vous, et ils seraient maintenant réintégrés dans leurs droits; mais ils ont préféré s’exposer avec les aristocrates et seconder leur insurrection. Songez-y bien : si vous infligez le même châtiment aux alliés qui se révoltent sous la pression des ennemis et à ceux dont la défection est spontanée, croyez-vous qu’il en soit un seul qui ne saisisse le plus léger prétexte pour s’insurger, quand il aura en perspective, s’il réussit, la liberté; s’il échoue, un sort supportable ? Nous au contraire, il nous faudra à chaque instant risquer nos biens et nos vies. Vainqueurs, nous ne trouverons qu’une ville ruinée, et nous perdrons à tout jamais les revenus qui alimentent nos forces ; vaincus, nous aurons de nouveaux ennemis ajoutés à ceux que nous avons déjà; et le temps qu’il eût fallu employer contre ceux-ci sera mis à combattre nos propres alliés.

[1] "And it is from these ways that I seek to turn you when I attempt to prove that Mytilene has done you more injury than any single state.

[2] I can make allowance for men who resorted to revolt because they were unable to bear your rule or because they were compelled by your enemies to do so; but men who inhabited a fortified island and had no fear of our enemies except by sea, and even there were not without the protection of a force of their own triremes, who moreover were independent and were treated by us with the highest consideration, when these men have acted thus, what else is it but conspiracy and rebellion rather than revolt—for revolt is the work of those who suffer oppression—and a deliberate attempt by taking their stand on the side of our bitterest enemies to bring about our destruction? And yet this is assuredly a more heinous thing than if they had gone to war against us by themselves for the acquisition of power.

[3] The calamities of their neighbours who had already revolted from us and been subdued proved no warning to them; nor did the good fortune which they enjoyed make them hesitate to take the perilous step; on the contrary, becoming over-confident as to the future, and conceiving hopes which, though greater than their powers, were less than their ambition, they took up arms, presuming to put might before right; for the moment they thought they should prove superior they attacked us unprovoked.

[4] And indeed it is the rule, that such states as come to unexpected prosperity most fully and most suddenly, do turn to insolence, whereas men generally find success less precarious when it comes in accordance with reasonable calculations than when it surpasses expectation, and more easily, as it seems, they repel adversity than maintain prosperity.

[5] But the Mytilenaeans from the first ought never to have been treated by us with any more consideration than our other allies, and then they would not have broken out into such insolence;

[6] for it is human nature in any case to be contemptuous of those who pay court but to admire those who will not yield.
  "Let them be punished, therefore, even now, in a manner befitting their crime, and do not put the blame upon the aristocrats and exonerate the common people. For they all alike attacked you, even the commons, who, if they had taken our side, might now have been reinstated in their city; but they thought there was less risk in sharing the dangers of the oligarchs, and so joined them in the revolt.

[7] Consider, moreover, your allies: if you inflict upon those who wilfully revolt no greater punishment than upon those who revolt under compulsion from our foes, which of them, think you, will not revolt on a slight pretext, when the alternatives are liberty if he succeeds or a fate not irreparable if he fails?

[8] We, on the other hand, shall have to risk our money and our lives against each separate state, and when we succeed we shall recover a ruined state and be deprived for the future of its revenue, the source of our strength, whereas if we fail we shall be adding fresh enemies to those we have already, and when we should be resisting our present foes we shall be fighting our own allies.

[1] "Wishing then to call you off from this course, I declare to you that the Mytilenaeans have injured you more than any one state ever did.

[2] For I can make allowance for men who have revolted because they could not endure your government, or because they were compelled by their enemies. But for those who inhabited an island with fortifications, and had only to fear our enemies by sea, on which element, too, they were themselves not unprotected against them by a fleet of triremes, and who lived independent, and were honoured in the highest degree by us, and then treated us in this way; what else did those men do than deliberately devise our ruin, and rise up against us, rather than revolt from us, (revolt, at least, is the part of those who are subject to some violent treatment,) and seek to ruin us by siding with our bitterest enemies? Yet surely that is more intolerable than if they waged war against you by themselves for the acquisition of power.

[3] Again, neither were the calamities of their neighbours, who had already revolted from us and been subdued, a warning to them; nor did the good fortune they enjoyed make them loath to come into trouble; but being over-confident with regard to the future, and having formed hopes beyond their power, though less than their desire, they declared war, having determined to prefer might to right; for at a time when they thought they should overcome us, they attacked us, though they were not being wronged.

[4] But success is wont to make those states insolent to which it comes most unexpected and with the shortest notice; whereas the good fortune which is according to men's calculation is generally more steady than when it comes beyond their expectation so to say, they more easily drive off adversity than they preserve prosperity.

[5] The Mytilenaeans, then, ought all along to have been honoured by us on the same footing as the rest, and in that case they would not have come to such a pitch of insolence; for in other instances, as well as theirs, man is naturally inclined to despise those who court him and respect those who do not stoop to him.

[6] But let them even now be punished as their crime deserves; and let not the guilt attach to the aristocracy, while you acquit the commons. For at any rate they all alike attacked you; since they might have come over to us, and so have been now in possession of their city again. Thinking, how ever, the chance they ran with the aristocracy to be the safer, they joined them in revolting. And now consider;

[7] if you attach the same penalties to those of the allies who were compelled by their enemies to revolt, and to those who did it voluntarily, which of them, think you, will not revolt on any slight pretext, when he either gains his liberation, if he succeed, or incurs no extreme suffering, if he fail?

[8] And so we shall presently have to risk both our money and our lives against each separate state. And if we are successful, by taking possession of a ruined city, you will hereafter be deprived of all. future revenue from it—in which our strength consists; while if we fail, we shall have fresh enemies in addition to those we have already; and during the time that we ought to be opposing our present foes, we shall be engaged in hostilities with our own allies.

[1] « A quibus ego vos avocare studens, pronuntio Mytilenaeorum civitatem unam omnium maxime vobis injuriam fecisse.

[2] Ego enim, si qui propterea, quod imperium vestrum ferre nequeunt, aut quod ab hostibus coacti sunt, defecerunt, veniam do; sed qui insulam tenebant et urbem muris cinctam, et qui a mari tantum nostros hostes metuebant, ubi et ipsi firmo classis apparatu adversus eos erant muniti, suisque legibus liberi vivebant, et ante omnes a nobis honorabantur, hi si talia facinora patrarunt, quid aliud, quam insidias fecerunt, et affectarunt potius imperium rebelles, quam defecerunt (defectioenim est illorum, qui vim aliquam patiuntur), operamque dederunt , ut juncti cum illis, qui nobis sunt hostes infensissimi nos perderent? Atqui hoc atrocius est, quam si per se comparatis copiis bellum nobis intulissent.

[3] Documento autem ipsis neque calamitates aliorum fuemnt, qui post defectionem a nobis factam in servitutem jam sunt redacti, neque praesens felicitas eos a periculis adeundis deterruit, sed facti audaces ad futura, et spe sua complexi res majores quidem facultate sua, minores tamen animi cupiditate, bellum susceperunt, armis potius quam jure disceptandum censentes; quo enim tempore se victores fore putarunt, nullis injuriis a nobis affecti nos invaserunt.

[4] Solet autem evenire, ut civitates illae, quibus nuper ac praeter exspectationem felicitas contigit, hac ad insolentiam convertantur, illa vero felicitas, qune secundum rationem hominibus contingit, est plerumque stabilior, quam quae praeter exspectationem accidit, et adversam fortunam, paene dixerim, facilius propulsant, quam secundam tuentur.

[5] Decuerat autem jam pridem Mytilenaeos nullo peculiari honore praeter ceteros a nobis affici, et eo petulantiae progressi non essent; hoc enim et alioqui natura comparatum est, ut homo eum quidem contemnat, a quo colitur, eum vero admiretur, qui ipsi non cedit. Plectuntor igitur etiam nunc pro magnitudine injuriae,

[6] neque paucis quidem culpa tribuatur, plebs vero a vobis absolvatur. Nam universi nos quidem pariter invaserunt, quibus tamen licebat, si ad nos confugissent, nunc iterum in urbe sua degere. Sed tutius esse arbitrali eandem belli fortunam periclitari cum paucis, simul omnes defecerunt.

[7] Considerate autem, si easdem poenae infligatis et sociis illis, qui ab hostibus coacti, et illis, qui ultro defecerunt, quem tandem fore putatis, quin levissima de causa deficiat, si aut re feliciter gesta libertatem sil adepturus, aut re infeliciter gesta nihil gravius sit perpessurus?

[8] Nos vero in singulis civitatibus et fortunarum et salutis periculum subibimus. £t si, re prospere gesta, urbem jam profligatam receperimus, proventibus, in quibus sita est nostra potentia, in posterum privabimini, si vero labamur, praeter eos, quos jam habemus, novos etiam hostes habebimus, et quo tempore illis, qui nunc sunt hostes aperti, resistendum erit, eo propriis sociis bellum faciemus.

[1] Aber auch die Kriegsverfassung Athens besitzt ihre Vorzüge vor der unserer Feinde. In unserer Stadt hat jedermann Zutritt, und keine Fremdenausweisung verwehrt ihm, alles zu schauen und kennen zu lernen, wenn auch ein Feind hingehen und diese Liberalität sich zu nutze machen könnte; im stolzen Gefühle unseres kriegerischen Muthes verschmähen wir alle solche schwächlichen Vorkehrungen. Und wenn bei jenen die Erziehung darauf ausgeht, durch mühselige Abrichtung von früher Jugend auf Männer zu bilden, können wir, ohne uns solchen Zwang anzuthun, es trotz ihnen mit den schwersten Kämpfen aufnehmen.

« Da' quali trasandamenti sollecito io di distorvi, protestò essere i Mitilenei rei verso di noi del più atroce misfatto che una sola città commetter possa. C011-ciossiachè io so perdonare a popoli che non potendo patire il vostro impero , o necessitati da’ nemici hanno (atto ribellione: ma gente che padroni di un’isola aiforzata di mura , pei quali non era da temere de’ nemici nostri, salvo che dalla parte del mare, per dove erano ben riparati con l’apparecchio di triremi ; gente che, lasciata nella libertà delle proprie leggi, e da nqi avuta nel primo grado di onoranza, è giunta a tale eccesso, che altro ha ella fatto se non macchinar contro di noi, ed insorgerci contro piuttosto che ribellarsi (perocché la ribellione è propria dei popoli angariati ), e cercar la nostra rovina mettendosi dalla parte de’ nostri capitali nemici ? Cosa invero più stupenda di quello che se, avendo forze bastevoli, ci avessero da sé soli mosso contro le armi. Non hanno servito a loro esempio iiè le sciagure di tutti gli altri popoli , che ribellatisi da noi furono ben sottomessi ; nè la presente loro felicità bastò a svogliarli sì chs e’ non giugnessero a tanta scelleratezza : ma fatti ardici rispetto all’avvenire, e sperate cose maggiori di lor potere e minori dei loro appetiti, hanno intrapreso la guerra, gloriandosi d’aver preposto al dritto la forza, Però, dappoiché parve loro thè potremmo esser vinti, ci assalirono, sento che gli avessimo in nulla ingiuriali. Tanto è vero che un’ impensata prosperità suol condurre all’ insolenza quelle città su cui ella cada improvvisa ; laddove d’ordinario le felicità che avvengono secondò l’umano discorso sono più stabili delle straordinarie per gli uomini, i quali sanno meglio , per così dire , respingere le disgrazie che conservar la fortuna. Egli faceà certamente di mestieri che anche di prima i Mitilenei non fossero avuti da iioi in maggiore onore che gli altri : cosi e’ non sarebbono giunti a tanto di artoganza ; stante che l' uomo è naturalmente prono per l’ordinario a dispregiar dii l’osserva , e riverir chi tiene il suo grado. Sieno adunque ora purliti condegnamente al loro delitto , nè vogliate attribuir la colpa ai soli fautori dell’oligarchia ed assolvete la plebe ; perocché tutti ci hanno del pari assalito , giacché potevano Ora esser rimessi in fcittà se a noi avessero ricorso, dove stimando più sicuro partito il rischiar co’ pochi, si unirono alla ribellione. Or ponete mente : se imporrete la medesima pena tanto a quei che si ribellino forzati dai nemici, quanto agli altri che ciò facciano di suo capriccio ; chi pensate voi non doversi ribellare col più leggero pretesto, ove riuscendo al suo fine consegua la libertà, e non riuscendo, nulla soffra di strano ? Anzi noi per ciascuna città dotrem mettere a repentaglio le sostanze e le vite nostre : e vincendo, ne avremo una città manomessa, sarem privi dell’entrate, che in seguito ci sarebbono pervenute, e per1 le quali siamo potenti ; e perdendo, aggiugneremo ai presenti nuovi nemici. Così qtìel tempo che ci bisogna per ributtare gli avversari di adesso, dovremo spenderlo nel guerreggiare i nostri alleati.