§7.235.1ὃ δʼ ἀμείβετο
ὦ βασιλεῦ, εἰ μὲν δὴ συμβουλεύεαί μοι προθύμως, δίκαιόν με σοί ἐστι φράζειν τὸ ἄριστον· εἰ τῆς ναυτικῆς στρατιῆς νέας τριηκοσίας ἀποστείλειας ἐπὶ τὴν Λάκαιναν χώρην.
And he replied: "O king, if you indeed consult me earnestly, it is right for me to tell you the best course; [namely,] if you should dispatch three hundred ships of your naval fleet to the Laconian territory.
§7.235.2ἔστι δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτῇ νῆσος ἐπικειμένη τῇ οὔνομα ἐστὶ Κύθηρα, τὴν Χίλων ἀνὴρ παρʼ ἡμῖν σοφώτατος γενόμενος κέρδος μέζον ἂν ἔφη εἶναι Σπαρτιήτῃσι κατὰ τῆς θαλάσσης καταδεδυκέναι μᾶλλον ἢ ὑπερέχειν, αἰεί τι προσδοκῶν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς τοιοῦτο ἔσεσθαι οἷόν τοι ἐγὼ ἐξηγέομαι, οὔτι τὸν σὸν στόλον προειδώς, ἀλλὰ πάντα ὁμοίως φοβεόμενος ἀνδρῶν στόλον.
There is an island lying off it, whose name is Cythera, which Chilon, a man who was the wisest among us, said it would be a greater gain for the Spartans to have sunk beneath the sea rather than to stand above it, always expecting some such thing to come from it as I am explaining to you, by no means foreseeing your expedition, but fearing equally any expedition of men.
§7.235.3ἐκ ταύτης τῆς νήσου ὁρμώμενοι φοβεόντων τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους.
Setting out from this island, let them terrify the Lacedaemonians.
παροίκου δὲ πολέμου σφι ἐόντος οἰκηίου, οὐδὲν δεινοὶ ἔσονταί τοι μὴ τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος ἁλισκομένης ὑπὸ τοῦ πεζοῦ βοηθέωσι ταύτῃ.
And with a war close at hand at their own home, there will be no fear for you that they will send help to the rest of Greece while it is being captured by your land army.
καταδουλωθείσης δὲ τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος ἀσθενὲς ἤδη τὸ Λακωνικὸν μοῦνον λείπεται.
And when the rest of Greece has been enslaved, the Laconian power, left alone, is then weak.
§7.235.4ἢν δὲ ταῦτα μὴ ποιέῃς, τάδε τοι προσδόκα ἔσεσθαι.
But if you do not do these things, expect these things to happen to you.
ἔστι τῆς Πελοποννήσου ἰσθμὸς στεινός· ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χώρῳ πάντων Πελοποννησίων συνομοσάντων ἐπὶ σοὶ μάχας ἰσχυροτέρας ἄλλας τῶν γενομενέων προσδέκεο ἔσεσθαί τοι.
There is a narrow isthmus of the Peloponnese; in this place, when all the Peloponnesians have united in a conspiracy against you, expect that other battles, more violent than those that have taken place, will occur for you.
ἐκεῖνο δὲ ποιήσαντι ἀμαχητὶ ὅ τε ἰσθμὸς οὗτος καὶ αἱ πόλιες προσχωρήσουσι.
But if you do that, this isthmus and the cities will come over to you without a fight."