On the Peace (41-45)

I have said these things at the outset because in the rest of my discourse I am going to speak without reserve and with complete frankness. For suppose that a stranger from another part of the world were to come to Athens,[*] having had no time to be tainted with our depravity, but brought suddenly face to face with what goes on here, would he not think that we are mad and bereft of our senses, seeing that we plume ourselves upon the deeds of our ancestors and think fit to eulogize our city by dwelling upon the achievements of their time and yet act in no respect like them but do the very opposite?

For while they waged war without ceasing in behalf of the Hellenes against the barbarians, we removed from their homes those who derive their livelihood from Asia and led them against the Hellenes;[*] and while they liberated the cities of Hellas[*] and lent them their aid and so were adjudged worthy of the hegemony, we seek to enslave these cities[*] and pursue a policy the very opposite of theirs and then feel aggrieved that we are not held in like honor with them—

we who fall so far short of those who lived in those days both in our deeds and in our thoughts that, whereas they brought themselves to abandon their country[*] for the sake of saving the other Hellenes and fought and conquered the barbarians both on the land and on the sea,[*] we do not see fit to run any risk even for our own advantage;

on the contrary, although we seek to rule over all men, we are not willing to take the field ourselves,[*] and although we undertake to wage war upon, one might almost say, the whole world,[*] we do not train ourselves for war but employ instead vagabonds, deserters, and fugitives who have thronged together here in consequence of other misdemeanors,[*] who, whenever others offer them higher pay, will follow their leadership against us.[*]

But, for all that, we are so enamored of these mercenaries that while we would not willingly assume the responsibility for the acts of our own children if they offended against anyone, yet for the brigandage, the violence, and the lawlessness of these men,[*] the blame for which is bound to be laid at our door, not only do we feel no regret, but we actually rejoice whenever we hear that they have perpetrated any such atrocity.