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77.
‘Athenians and allies, even in our
present position we must still hope on, since men have ere now been saved
from worse straits than this; and you must not condemn yourselves too severely either because of your
disasters or because of your present unmerited sufferings.
[2]
I myself who am not superior to any of you in strength—indeed you
see how I am in my sickness—and who in the gifts of fortune am, I
think, whether in private life or otherwise, the equal of any, am now
exposed to the same danger as the meanest among you; and yet my life has been one of much devotion towards the gods, and of much
justice and without offence towards men.
[3]
I have, therefore, still a strong hope for the future, and our misfortunes
do not terrify me as much as they might.
Indeed we may hope that they will be lightened: our enemies have had good
fortune enough; and if any of the gods was offended at our expedition, we have been already
amply punished.
[4]
Others before us have attacked their neighbors and have done what men will
do without suffering more than they could bear; and we may now justly expect to find the gods more kind, for we have become
fitter objects for their pity than their jealousy.
And then look at yourselves, mark the numbers and efficiency of the heavy
infantry marching in your ranks, and do not give way too much to
despondency, but reflect that you are yourselves at once a city wherever you
sit down, and that there is no other in Sicily that could easily resist your
attack, or expel you when once established.
[5]
The safety and order of the march is for yourselves to look to; the one thought of each man being that the spot on which he may be forced
to fight must be conquered and held as his country and stronghold.
[6]
Meanwhile we shall hasten on our way night and day alike, as our provisions
are scanty; and if we can reach some friendly place of the Sicels, whom fear of the
Syracusans still keeps true to us, you may forthwith consider yourselves
safe.
A message has been sent on to them with directions to meet us with supplies
of food.
[7]
To sum up, be convinced, soldiers, that you must be brave, as there is no
place near for your cowardice to take refuge in, and that if you now escape
from the enemy, you may all see again what your hearts desire, while those
of you who are Athenians will raise up again the great power of the state,
fallen though it be.
Men make the city and not walls or ships without men in
them.’
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References (53 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(12):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus, 1-150
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 1016
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 661
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 917
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Electra, 1390
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes, 180
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6, 6.11
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.68
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER CXXVIII
- C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4, CHAPTER XCII
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 8
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 2.8
- Cross-references to this page
(6):
- Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, ADJECTIVES
- Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, THE VERB: VOICES
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.1
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.2
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), COLO´NIA
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(2):
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Thuc. 6.68
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Thuc. 7.61
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(33):
- LSJ, ἀξία
- LSJ, ἀνεκτός
- LSJ, ἀντιλαμβάνω
- LSJ, ἀποχρώντως
- LSJ, αἰωρ-έω:
- LSJ, δέχομαι
- LSJ, διάκειμαι
- LSJ, δι^αιτ-άω
- LSJ, ἔτι
- LSJ, ἐπανορθ-όω
- LSJ, ἐπίφθον-ος
- LSJ, ἐχυ^ρ-ός
- LSJ, εὔτακτ-ος
- LSJ, εὐθύς
- LSJ, εὐτυχ-έω
- LSJ, εὐτυχ-ία
- LSJ, φαῦλος
- LSJ, ἱδρ-ύω
- LSJ, ἱκα^ν-ός
- LSJ, κα^κοπάθ-εια
- LSJ, καθέζομαι
- LSJ, καταμέμφομαι
- LSJ, κατα-πλήσσω
- LSJ, κίνδυν-ος
- LSJ, λωφ-άω
- LSJ, μηδέ
- LSJ, πα^ρά
- LSJ, πέμπω
- LSJ, προπέμπω
- LSJ, θρα^σύς
- LSJ, σπουδή
- LSJ, τι_μωρ-έω
- LSJ, ὑπό
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