Isocrates, Panathenaicus, George Norlin (Translator), 56

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[56] You can see at once from this instance best of all how much milder and more moderate we were in our supervision over the affairs of the Hellenes, but you can see it also from what I shall now say. The Spartans remained at the head of Hellas hardly ten years,¹ while we held the hegemony without interruption for sixty-five years.² And yet it is known to all that states which come under the supremacy of others remain loyal for the longest time to those under which they suffer the least degree of oppression.

Panathenaicus. Isocrates. George Norlin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

Panathenaicus (English) (IIsocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).)

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Παναθηναικός Perseus (Isocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, editor. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).) — 56 focus

[56]
μάλιστα μὲν οὖν ἐντεῦθεν ἄν τις δυνηθείη κατιδεῖν ὅσῳ μετριώτερον καὶ πραότερον ἡμεῖς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπεμελήθημεν, δεύτερον δʼ ἐκ τοῦ ῥηθήσεσθαι μέλλοντος· Σπαρτιᾶται μὲν γὰρ ἔτη δέκα μόλις ἐπεστάτησαν αὐτῶν, ἡμεῖς δὲ πέντε καὶ ἑξήκοντα συνεχῶς κατέσχομεν τὴν ἀρχήν. καίτοι πάντες ἴσασι τὰς πόλεις τὰς ὑφʼ ἑτέροις γιγνομένας, ὅτι πλεῖστον χρόνον τούτοις παραμένουσιν ὑφʼ ὧν ἂν ἐλάχιστα κακὰ πάσχουσαι τυγχάνωσιν.

Notes on the current edition

Panathenaicus

1. Isocrates elsewhere views the Spartan supremacy as lasting from the end of the Peloponnesian War, 405-404 B.C., to the battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C. See Isoc. 5.47 . But later in Isoc. 5.63-64 he speaks of Conon’s naval victory at the battle of Cnidus , 394 B.C., as the end of the Spartan rule, since it re-established the maritime influence of Athens. The latter is the version followed here. It is reasonable to say that Sparta ’s supremacy by sea ceased with the battle of Cnidus and her supremacy by land with Leuctra.

2. See Isoc. 4.106 , note.

Isocrates Panathenaicus 56

George Norlin (Translator)

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