§6.76.1‘οὐ τὴν παροῦσαν δύναμιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ὦ Καμαριναῖοι, μὴ αὐτὴν καταπλαγῆτε δείσαντες ἐπρεσβευσάμεθα, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τοὺς μέλλοντας ἀπ’ αὐτῶν λόγους, πρίν τι καὶ ἡμῶν ἀκοῦσαι, μὴ ὑμᾶς πείσωσιν.
"O Kamarinaeans, we have sent this embassy not because we feared that you would be terrified by the present power of the Athenians, but rather lest their future words should persuade you before you have heard anything from us.
§6.76.2ἥκουσι γὰρ ἐς τὴν Σικελίαν προφάσει μὲν ᾗ πυνθάνεσθε, διανοίᾳ δὲ ἣν πάντες ὑπονοοῦμεν· καί μοι δοκοῦσιν οὐ Λεοντίνους βούλεσθαι κατοικίσαι, ἀλλ’ ἡμᾶς μᾶλλον ἐξοικίσαι.
For they have come to Sicily with the pretext which you hear of, but with the intention which we all suspect; and they seem to me to wish, not to resettle the Leontines, but rather to expel us.
οὐ γὰρ δὴ εὔλογον τὰς μὲν ἐκεῖ πόλεις ἀναστάτους ποιεῖν, τὰς δὲ ἐνθάδε κατοικίζειν, καὶ Λεοντίνων μὲν Χαλκιδέων ὄντων κατὰ τὸ ξυγγενὲς κήδεσθαι, Χαλκιδέας δὲ τοὺς ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ, ὧν οἵδε ἄποικοί εἰσι, δουλωσαμένους ἔχειν.
For indeed it is not reasonable to make the cities over there desolate, and to resettle those here, and to care for the Leontines because they are Chalcidians on the ground of kinship, while keeping the Chalcidians in Euboea, of whom these are colonists, in a state of slavery.
§6.76.3τῇ δὲ αὐτῇ ἰδέᾳ ἐκεῖνά τε ἔσχον καὶ τὰ ἐνθάδε νῦν πειρῶνται· ἡγεμόνες γὰρ γενόμενοι ἑκόντων τῶν τε Ἰώνων καὶ ὅσοι ἀπὸ σφῶν ἦσαν ξύμμαχοι ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Μήδου τιμωρίᾳ, τοὺς μὲν λιποστρατίαν, τοὺς δὲ ἐπ’ ἀλλήλους στρατεύειν, τοῖς δ’ ὡς ἑκάστοις τινὰ εἶχον αἰτίαν εὐπρεπῆ ἐπενεγκόντες κατεστρέψαντο.
With the very same policy they acquired those possessions and are now attempting those here; for having become leaders of the willing Ionians and of all who were their allies from them, ostensibly for vengeance on the Mede, they subdued them, accusing some of desertion, others of warring against one another, and bringing against others whatever plausible charge they had against each.
§6.76.4καὶ οὐ περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἄρα οὔτε οὗτοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὔθ’ οἱ Ἕλληνες τῆς ἑαυτῶν τῷ Μήδῳ ἀντέστησαν, περὶ δὲ οἱ μὲν σφίσιν ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐκείνῳ καταδουλώσεως, οἱ δ’ ἐπὶ δεσπότου μεταβολῇ οὐκ ἀξυνετωτέρου, κακοξυνετωτέρου δέ.
And so, after all, it was not for freedom that either these men resisted the Mede on behalf of the Greeks, nor the Greeks for their own freedom, but the former did so to enslave them to themselves instead of to him, and the latter for a change of master, one not less intelligent, but more maliciously clever."