§459ἂν ἑκόντες, οἳ μετὰ τῶν Θηβαίων ἐναντία αὐτοῖς πεπολεμηκότες ἦτε.
They would not have refrained willingly, they who had made war against them in opposition to you, along with the Thebans.
ὥσπερ τοίνυν, εἰ τῷ ὄντι τοῦθʼ ὑμῖν συνέβη, δικαίως ἂν αὐτοὺς φυλάττεσθαι δεῖν ᾤεσθε τὸ λοιπὸν, οὕτως ἐπειδὴ συμβὰν ἂν, εἰ καιρὸς ὑπῆρξε, φαίνεται, μηδὲν ἧττον φυλάττεσθε.
Therefore, just as, if this had actually happened to you, you would have rightly thought that you must guard against them for the future, so now, since it appears that it would have happened if opportunity had offered, guard against them no less.
ὧν τε γὰρ τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἀπεμνημονεύκασι κεκοινωνήκατε δή που καὶ ἡ ἐξ ἀρχῆς οἰκεία διαφορὰ πρόσεστιν.
For you have surely shared in those things which they remember with resentment against the Thebans, and your original private difference is added to it.
ὥσθʼ ὅσῳπερ ἂν τοῖς Θηβαίοις πικρῶς ἔχωσι, διπλάσιον χρὴ δοκεῖν ὑμῖν ὃ νῦν διὰ τὴν χρείαν ἐπικρύπτονται.
So, by as much as they are bitterly disposed toward the Thebans, you must believe that that which they now conceal because of their need is twice as great toward you.
ἔτι τοίνυν Θηβαίους μὲν οὐδεπώποτε τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἴσασι τυχόντας, οὐδὲ παρʼ ἑκόντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὑμᾶς δὲ πολλοῖς ἔτεσι μείναντας ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐνοίᾳ λαβόντας, τὸ πλέον δʼ ὕστερον δυνάμει κατασχόντας· λέγουσι δʼ ἀεὶ πάτριον εἶναι σφίσιν ἡγεῖσθαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἐν τῷ πρὸς τὸν Πέρσην πολέμῳ κατʼ ἀμφότερα ἡγοῦντο, τοῦτο δʼ ἡνίκα τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀρχὴν κατέλυσαν.
Furthermore, they know that the Thebans have never yet obtained the hegemony, nor with the consent of the Greeks, but that you remained in it for many years, having received it at first through goodwill, and later held it more by power; and they always say that it is their ancestral right to lead the Greeks, and they led them in both ways in the war against the Persian, and again when they destroyed our empire.
ταῦτʼ οὖν οὐ πάσης ἀδείας ἐστὶ μεστὰ, οὐδʼ ὅσην οἴεταί τις εὐμάρειαν ἔχει.
Are these things not full of every kind of insecurity, nor do they possess as much ease as some think?
Θηβαῖοι δὲ κἂν αὐτοί μοι σύμβουλοι γενέσθαι δοκοῦσιν ὡς οὐ χρὴ τῶν ἡμετέρων οὐδὲν παρασπᾶν, οὐδʼ ἐμβαίνειν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, ἣ πᾶσι μᾶλλον ἢ ʼκείνοις προσήκει.
But the Thebans seem to me to be themselves advisers that we must not snatch away any of our possessions, nor embark upon the sea, which belongs to anyone rather than to them.
ἃ γὰρ μὴ συνίσασιν αὑτοῖς ποτε σχοῦσι, ταῦτʼ οὐδὲ ζητεῖν ἀξιώσουσι· Λακεδαιμονίοις δʼ ἐπεξιόντες καὶ τἀκείνων καθαιροῦντες οὐκ ἀξιώσουσιν οὐδένα αὐτοῖς νεμεσᾶν.
For what they do not know themselves ever to have possessed, these things they will not even deign to seek; but in attacking the Lacedaemonians and pulling down their power, they will not expect anyone to resent them.
εἰ φαίνονται τοίνυν ἐκ τούτων Θηβαῖοι μὲν Λακεδαιμονίοις, οὐχ ὑμῖν, κακόνοι, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ ὑμῖν πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ Θηβαίοις, πῶς οὐ κατʼ ἀμφότερα τὰ Θηβαίων αἱρετώτερα;
If, therefore, from these things the Thebans appear to be hostile to the Lacedaemonians, not to you, and the Lacedaemonians to you much more than to the Thebans, how is the alliance of the Thebans not preferable on both grounds?
αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ τοὺς ὑμετέρους ἐχθροὺς μισοῦντας ὑπάρχειν αὐτοὺς πῶς οὐ σφόδρα ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐστιν, ἄνευ τοῦ μηδὲν ὑπολείπεσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς πρᾶγμʼ αὐτοῖς;
For how is this very fact, that they exist hating your enemies, not highly in your favor, besides there being no dispute left between them and you?
ἔστι τοίνυν καὶ παρʼ αὐτῆς τῆς πρεσβείας μαρτυρία τις ὑπάρχουσα.
There is, moreover, a certain testimony available from the embassy itself.
νυνὶ γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίους μὲν ἡ συμφορὰ δεῦρʼ ἦχε καὶ ὁ καιρὸς, ὃ πίστεως οὐδεμιᾶς ἐστι δεῖγμα οὐδὲ τοῦ φιλανθρώπως ἔχειν ὑμῖν, Θηβαῖοι δὲ νενικηκότες ἥκουσι καὶ παρακαλοῦσι μετέχειν ὑμᾶς ὧν ηὐτυχήκασιν· §460οὗ τί γένοιτʼ ἂν μεῖζον σύμβολον τοῦ πιστῶς ἔχειν ὑμῖν;
For now, misfortune and opportunity have brought the Lacedaemonians here, which is no proof of any trust or of their being kindly disposed toward you, but the Thebans have come after conquering and invite you to share in what they have succeeded in; what greater token of their being faithful to you could there be than this?
ἆρʼ οὐκ ἐξ ἁπάντων ἀδεέστερα καὶ ἀδολώτερα φαίνεται;
Does it not appear from all things more secure and more free from guile?
εἰ δὲ δεῖ πρὸς ἀναιδῆ διαβολὴν εὐγνωμοσύνης ὑπερβολῇ χρήσασθαι, τὸ μὲν μέλλον ἀφῶμεν· πολλὰ γὰρ ἐν τῷ παντὶ χρόνῳ γένοιτʼ ἂν ἃ καὶ προειδέναι ἀμήχανον καὶ προπιστεύειν οὐκ ἔνεστιν· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἤδη γεγενημένων καὶ περὶ ὧν οὐδεμία τίς ἐστιν ἀμφισβήτησις, Θηβαίους αἱρούμενοι τὰ δίκαια ποιήσοντες ἐσμὲν δῆλοι, τοῦτο μὲν ἀνθʼ ὧν ὑπῆρξαν εἰς ὑμᾶς εὐεργεσιῶν, τοῦτο δὲ ἀνθʼ ὧν διὰ ταῦτα καὶ πρότερον αὐτοὺς προσηκάμεθα, τοῦτο δὲ ἀνθʼ ὧν Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ ἡμῖν ἀμέτρως κἀκείνοις ἀδίκως κέχρηνται.
But if we must, against shameless slander, use an excess of fair-mindedness, let us dismiss the future; for in all time many things might happen which it is impossible to foresee and not permitted to trust in advance; but from what has already happened, and concerning which there is no dispute, it is clear that in choosing the Thebans we shall be doing what is just, partly in return for the benefits they first bestowed upon you, partly in return for those things because of which we formerly accepted them, and partly because the Lacedaemonians have behaved immoderately toward us and unjustly toward them.
εἰ δʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν τοῦ μέλλοντος οὐκ ἐνέσται διισχυρίσασθαι, τὰ παρελθόντα δὲ ἀφʼ ὧν τὸ δίκαιον κρίνεται σιωπᾶν ἡμῖν προστάξουσιν οἱ μέχρι τοσούτου φιλοῦντες Λακεδαιμονίους, ὅσον τοῦ Θηβαίους μισεῖν ἀφελεῖν ἦν ἄξιον, ἄλλο τι λοιπὸν ἢ νεύματι τὴν βοήθειαν δεήσει δεικνύναι;
But if it is not possible to persist strongly concerning the future, and if those who love the Lacedaemonians to such a degree that it would be right to subtract from their hatred of the Thebans order us to keep silent about the past, from which justice is judged, what else remains but to show our assistance by a nod?
οὐ γὰρ εἰπεῖν γε δήπουθεν οὐδὲν ἐξέσται.
For indeed it will not be permitted to say anything.
καὶ τίς ἂν ταύτης τῆς ἀλογίας ἀνάσχοιτο;
And who could bear this absurdity?
ἄξιον δʼ ἐτάσαι τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων δεινότητα καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὅντινα ἀεὶ χρῶνται τοῖς πράγμασιν.
But it is worthwhile to examine the cleverness of the Lacedaemonians and the manner which they always use in dealing with affairs.
οὗτοι πολεμήσαντες ἡμῖν πολέμους δύο, τόν τε Δεκελεικὸν τὸν πρότερον καὶ τὸν ὕστερον τουτονὶ τὸν Κορινθιακὸν, πῶς ἐχρήσαντο ἀμφοτέροις;
These men, having waged two wars against us, both the Decelean war of before and this later Corinthian war, how did they treat both?
ἐπʼ ἐκεῖνόν τε βασιλέα σύμμαχον ἐκάλεσαν, διʼ οὗ μάλιστα ἡγοῦντο ἡμᾶς καταλύσειν, καὶ τοῦτον διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τούτου κατέθεντο πέμψαντες Ἀνταλκίδην, ὃς ἐξέδωκε τοὺς Ἕλληνας αὐτῷ, μισθὸν τῆς εἰρήνης, καὶ ταύτην τελευτὴν ἀμφοτέροις ἐπέθηκαν.
In the former, they called upon the King as an ally, through whom they thought they would most of all destroy us, and this latter war they settled through this very same man by sending Antalcidas, who surrendered the Greeks to him as the price of peace, and they put this end to both.
εἶτα Λακεδαιμονίους μὲν οὐδὲν κωλύσει διʼ ὅτου ποτʼ ἂν οἴωνται τρόπου πλέον ἕξειν, τούτῳ χρῆσθαι, ἡμεῖς δʼ εἴ τινας τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἰσχυροὺς ἡ τύχη πεποίηκε, τούτους ἐγκαταλείψομεν;
Then, while nothing will prevent the Lacedaemonians from using whatever means they think they will have the advantage by, shall we abandon those whom fortune has made strong among our existing friends?
καὶ μὴν οὐ τηλικοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ Ἀθηναίους Θηβαίοις προσθέσθαι κατὰ Λακεδαιμονίων, ἡλίκον τὸ Λακεδαιμονίους τῷ Πέρσῃ προσθεμένους ἐκδοῦναι τοὺς Ἕλληνας.
And indeed, it is not so great a thing for the Athenians to join the Thebans against the Lacedaemonians as for the Lacedaemonians, by joining the Persian, to surrender the Greeks.
ἢ ὅμοιον Ἴωνας καὶ Αἰολέας καὶ Δωριέας προέσθαι διαπραττομένους αὐτούς τι καὶ μηδένας ἀνθρώπων προδιδόντας τοῖς
Or is it similar to betray the Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians while they achieve something for themselves, and to betray no men to...