The hystory writtone by Thucidides the Athenyan of the warre, whiche was betwene the Peloponesians and the Athenyans, translated oute of Frenche into the Englysh language by Thomas Nicolls citezeine and goldesmyth of London

¶The speaking and opynyon of Pericles to the counsayle of the Athenyans, accordynge wherunto, the aunswere was made vnto the Lacedemonyans. The .xviii. Chapter.

THough that I knowe, lordes Athenyans, that men make not warre with that same ardor & desire, that they enterprise yt, but accordinge to the cases that happenne, do change thair wylle: yet I contynue stil in my opynyon, not to geue place to the Peloponesians. For I do see this, wherof we must presently determyne, like & approchinge vnto that, where∣of I haue had opynyon bifore this tyme. wherfore I thinke it a thinge reasona∣ble, that they amonge youe, that shalbe of my aduyse, if there chaūce herafter any myschance against the comon opynyō of the people, that they ought than to ex∣cuse it. And if it happen well (as we do hope) not to iudge it thair prudence for y^t it is so chaunced. For it is commonly sene, that the chaunse of thinges to comme, be as vncertayne, as thoughtes of men, which ys the reason, wherby if any thing, vnloked for, do chaunse vs, we accuse fortune. Nowe to come to the case wherof ys questyō, yt is very certayne, that the Lacedemonyās haue alwaies heretofore imagyned agaynste vs, & yet presently do imagyne. For though yt be spoken by our couenātes & treaties, that if there be any controuersie bitwene any amōg vs for any thynge, they ought to stande vnto the knowlaige or iudgemēt of other and in the meane tyme to continue in the estate and possession, that they be found in: yet they haue not demaunded that we shulde putt the causes, wherof the qua∣relle ys made, into iudgement & knolaige. But whā that we haue offred it them, they w••ld not accepte it. For that, that they loue better that quarels be auoyded by warre, than by wordes. And though yt seme that they come by manner of re∣queste, yet ys it by cōmandment. For they cōmande vs to departe frō Potyde, y^t we suffre the Egynyans in thair lybertie, & that we reuoke the decree, that we haue made agaynst the Megar••ans. And they whych be last come, do cōmaunde vs that we suff••e the Grekes to lyue according to thair lawes. And to the intēt, that any among you do not thinke that the questiō ys of a smal matter, to witt to reuoke the sayd decre, wherupō they arrest most stifly, saying that in that do∣inge, we shall not haue warre, & likewise that it shuld be a great fault to enter in∣to suche a warre for one so smal a matter, I aduertise you, that this smal affaire, conteigneth the consequence & the establishment of all the other thinges, where vpon my opyniō is groūded. For if you graūt thē this, they woll cōmaunde you incontinētly some other thing, more great, seing y^t, for fear, you shal haue obeyde them in that. But if that youe refuse them & speake agaynst them sharpely with a good blowe, they shall knowe, that they oughte not to cōme by authoritie to∣wardes you, but by amitie. as from like to like. wherfore I thinke that you must determyne aithere to obeye them bifore you haue receyued any inconuenience of warre, orels (whyche I repute to be the beste) to take the aduēture of the warre, rather thā to obey thē in any thing small or great. And so posses by thys meane that, whyche we holde alway in feare. For into as great bondage & subiection a man putteth himselfe by obeyinge to the comaundement of his Egalls & neygh∣bours without any iudgement, in a small matter, as in a great. And if yt be for∣ced that we come to warre y^e one against the other, euery w^t all his power, there ys great apparance for him that woll naroly consider all thinges, that we shuld not haue the woorse. For furst the Peloponesyās be the more parte, handy craft

men & labourers, who haue no monney in general & veray litle in particuler. And also they haue not experyence of longe warres, & specially of those, that be made by sea. And euen whan they haue any warre amōg thēselfe, they may not cōtinue it long, by cause of thair pouertie. And if there be question to send to the sea, they haue no meane to replenishe thair shippes with men, nor yet to sende out a puis∣sante armye by lande. For that, that by that meane they shulde eloigne or absent themselfe fro thair domesticall affayres and shulde lose thair exercise and māner of lyuinge. And furthermore youe knowe that warre ys more susteigned by ry∣ches and ready monney, than by violent exactions. Nowe if we occupye or kepe the sea, they woll be more ready, being hādy craft people & labourers, to sarue w^t thair bodies, than with mōney. Hoping that they may alwayes saue thair bodies fro daūgers of the warre, where they cannot excuse thēselfe to contribute to y^e ex∣pēces of it, whā it shall be bigon vntil y^e time that it shalbe acheued & ended. And for to speke of thinges passed, the Peloponesians haue bene egall to y^e other Gre¦kes in one onely battayle, but throughly to contynue warre, they haue not bene like vnto thē y^• wer better prouided, thā they. For that they vse not one only coū∣saille, but many. By occasyon whereof, that, whyche they haue to do, they do yt soubdaynely. And though they be much different of faculties, of power and of all other thynges, yet euery one man hath his opynyon, aswell the one, as the othere, and euery man tendereth his particuler proufytte, whereby it comethe not comonly, that any thynge ys done, that auaylethe. For if some be safly inclyned to fyght wyth any, and to ronne hym ouer, the other feare greatly to spende thair particuler good. And furthermore, for somuche as they come euyll willingly to thair common assembles, they determyne in a momente of tyme of thair generall affayres, and employe the more parte of tyme, to thair pryuate busynes. For e∣uery one of them thynkethe that the comon wealthe shall not be endommaged by his absence, & y^t they shall haue some ther, that shal do somuch for him, as if he were there. And by thys meane hauynge euery man thys opynyon towardes hymselfe, they parceyue not, that the common wealthe perishethe by them all togyders. And if at any tyme they delyberate to attende thereunto diligentely and at lengthe, they cannot for lacke of monney. And yet the affayres of warre nede no longe deliberations. And we must not feare thair edifices nor thair ar∣mye by sea. For as touchinge the edifices or buyldinges, though that they were in peace, yet shulde yt be very harde for them to make a towne so stronge, as thys here, and therfore they shal make yt much lesse in time of warre. And spe∣cyally there, where we shall make oure rampares and munytyons to the contra∣rie. And whan nowe they shall make agaynste vs a towne firmed or closed with walles, and that they shall strengthe yt with people, yt ys true that they maye endomage vs aswell in makynge courses and pillage in some places of our land, as in drawing to thair party some of our subiectes, yet by thair buildinges they shall not defende, that we go not into thair lande by sea, wherin we arne moste stronge. And also we haue by our contynuel excercise in the sea, more experience in the warre that ys made by lande, than they haue by vsage of the lande warre, in the fight or battayle by sea. To the whiche they cannot easely appoyncte nor frame themselues to be experte. For we ourselfe that haue contynuelly vsed this crafte, sens the warre of the Medes, be not therin parfaictly instructed. How shal they than do it, that were accustomed to laboure the lande, and not to trauaile the sea. And on the other parte, by hauinge contynually a great nōber of shippes, laying watche for them, we shal kepe thē well frō accustomyng thēselues to that busines, & fro doing any thing of importāce. And where as, not seing against thē,

but a smal nōber of shippes, they may (trusting to the great nōber of thaire peo∣ple) take the aduenture to come to fight vpō the sea, whā they shall se that there shalbe a greate nomber on all sides, they woll saue thēselfe or exchue it. And by this meane, leuyng holy the vse of sailinge, they shall therin haue euery daye lesse knowlaige, & also shall bicome more ydle. For 〈◊〉〈◊〉 arte of the sea, lyke as in all other, it is not suffycient to exercise himself wha••he hath no nother busynes, but it is required (for to knowe it wel) to do no othere exercyse, but that same there. And if it be sayde that by meane of the monney that they shall take in Olympus or in Delphos, that they may reteigne the huyred ma••onners that we haue, ge∣uing them greater sould or wages: truely I saye that this shulde be a greuous thynge for vs, if we shuld not abide so strong of our people, namely which shuld be within our shippes, as they of thaire oune people, but we shall be as mightye, And that whiche more is, we haue patrones & other ministres by sea in greater nomber, than all the rēmenant of Grece hath. And also there is not he of the mer∣cenaries or ••uyred maronners that wol besyde the daunger wherin he shuld put himselfe, be vannished from our lande, hauinge specially lesse esperance and hope to proffitt on thaire syde, than of ours. Insomuche as though happely they do geue them greater wages, yt shall not be but for a veray short tyme. Thies thin∣ges and other lyke, yt semeth to me mete, to shewe and reherce of the Pelo••one∣sians. I woll nowe shewe of vs that, which I vnderstande and parceyue. ••e be for trouth exempted from the thinges that we obiecte against them. And also we haue many notable thinges that they haue not. For if they enter into our coūtrey by lande, we woll enter into thairs by sea, and so the dammage, that they shal do vnto vs, shal not be like vnto that same, that we shal do vnto them, for that that we woll destroy a great parte of Peloponese, and they cannot destroye but all the land of Athenes, for that that they haue no other countrey where as we may not make warre at our wille. where as we haue muche other landes, aswell in Islandes as in mayne lande. whiche they cannot warre vpon, by cause of them∣pire and of the puissance that we haue by sea, whiche ys a greate aduauntage. For it is to co••sider, that if we were in any Islande of the sea, we shulde be impreg∣nable. Nowe ys it in our power (if we woll) to do as if we were Islanders, that ys to wy••t, to habandone and to holde for loste, all our townes and houses that we haue in the feldes in this lande of Athenes, and to kepe onely and to defende this cytie and the sea. And if the Peloponesians whiche be more people than we, do come to burne and destroy our howses & our landes, we shulde not, through anger and furye, ronne vpon them, nor fight agaynst them. For though that we shall haue defeated or ouercomme them at one tyme, they woll yet come againe in as greate nomber as bifore, for to destroye vs. And if one iourney mishappe∣ned vs, we shulde lose the ayde of all oure subiectes and allyes. For whan they vnderstande that we shall not be mightie for to go to assayle them by sea with a greate armye, they woll not passe muche for youe. And though peraduenture we shulde lose our townes and our landes for to saue our bodyes, we shuld not therfore lamente. For possessions do not g••tt men, but men acquire possessions. And if I thought, that youe wolde bileue me, I woulde coūsaille that you your∣selues shuld go to destroy thē, for to cause knowlaige to be geuē to the Pelopo∣nesians, that youe arne not suche, as woll obey them, for sauing of them. I haue moreouer many other thynges by whiche you maye hope victorie, if youe wille. But youe must not, vntill that you shalbe in the defence, thinke to increase your seignyory, nor adde volūtary parills to the necessary, that you shal haue. For cer∣taynly I feare not somuch the enterprises of our ennemys, as the faultes of our

oune people. Of y^• which thinges I will not speake at this present. But I resarue it to speake whā we shalbe in affayre or busines. And to make an ende of my pur∣pose, I thinke y^t we shuld for this tyme sende our ambassadours to y^e Lacedemo¦nyans, and by them, to make aunswer, that we be content not to prohibite nor forbid vnto y^e Megarens our portes & markets. Prouyded y^t those Lacedemo∣niās do not prohibitt the vse of theyr citie to estraūgers no more, than vnto vs & our allyes. For that, which we do, is no more to y^e derogatyō of our treaties and alliāces, thā y^e, which they do. And touching the other dema••̄de which they haue made, to suffre the cytyes of Grece in lybertie, we be therw^t content, yf they were therin, from the tyme of the sayde treaties, & yf they be contente to restore theyr cytyes into suche lybertye, that they lyue accordynge to theyr particular lawes, as they woll, wythout that, that they be constrayned to kepe the lawes and or∣denaunces of Laoconie, touchyng the gouernaunce of theyr commone affayres. And furthermore that we be content for all causes to stande to ryght and iud∣gement accordyng to the tenour of our allyances, wythout mouyng any warre, But yf we be assaulted, we woll take payne to defende vs. This aūswere semeth to me reasonable, y••a and honorable, for to conserue the auctoryte and reputaci∣on of our cytye. By whiche doyng, we must vnderstande of necessitie to enter in∣to warre. the whi••he yf we wyliyngly do accept, the enemys wol not be so sharp agaynst vs. And so much as we shall eskape the greater daungers, we shall ac∣quyre both more glorye, and more proffyt, aswell in common as in particular. For youe do all knowe, howe that oure auncest••es, whan they yssued from hence for to go agaynste the Medes, they had not so greate Empyre, as we, nother so muche goodes. And yet that, which they hadde, they wyllingly dyd habando∣ne and forsake, and by v••ynge rather of ••ounsaylle, than of fortune, and of ver∣tue and hardynes, more than of force, they chased away the Barbarous or straū∣gers. And sence, they haue amplefyed and encreased thys our empyre, euen vntyl the estate, wherin you nowe see it. To whom we ought not to be inferyours, but vertuously and valyantly, to resiste our ennemyes and to take payne not to suf∣fre thys empyre to be lessened nor weakened otherwyse, thā we founde it. Thus spake Pericles. And the Athenyans reputynge hys counsayle to be good, ensu∣ynge the same, caused a decre to be made. By whiche they appoincted Ambas∣sadours for to go towardes the Lacedemonyans, to make them aunswere holy suche, as he had deuysed, whiche was in somme, to do nothynge of that, whiche they had commaunded, but to be well wyllynge to aunswere in a neutrall and indyfferent Iudgemente,, touchyng the thynges wherewyth they were charged. Thus the au••swere was made. And afterwardes they sente no Ambassade, the one to the other. Howebeit the causes of the dyfference that was betwene them before the warre, was the begynnynge of the thynges that had bene done in E∣pydanne and in Corcyre. Although that by reason therof, they ceased not they•• marchaundyse nor to haunte the one wyth the other wythoute saulf∣conducte and wythoute haraultes, but yet not wythout su∣spectyon, for also that whiche was done, was the dy∣sturbance and breache of the treatyes and con∣federations, and the occasyon of the warre.