e no
intention of submitting to wrong. Justice with you seems to consist in
giving no annoyance to others and in defending yourselves only against
positive injury. But this policy would hardly be successful, even if
your neighbors were like yourselves; and in the present case, as we
pointed out just now, your ways compared with theirs are
old-fashioned. And, as in the arts, so also in politics, the new must
always prevail over the old. In settled times the traditions of
government should be observed; but when circumstances are changing and
men are compelled to meet them, much originality is required.

"The Athenians have had a wider experience, and therefore the
administration of their state has improved faster than yours. But here
let your procrastination end; send an army at once into Attica and
assist your allies, especially the Potidaeans, to whom your word is
pledged. Do not allow friends and kindred to fall into the hands of
their worst enemies, or drive us in despair to seek the alliance of
others; in taking such a course we should be doing wrong either before
the gods who are witnesses of our oaths or before men whose eyes are
upon us. For the true breakers of treaties are not only those who,
when forsaken, turn to others, but those who forsake allies whom they
have sworn to defend. We will remain your friends if you choose to
bestir yourselves; for we should be guilty of an impiety if we
deserted you without cause; and we shall not easily find allies
equally congenial to us. Take heed then; you have inherited from your
fathers the leadership of Peloponnesus; see that her greatness suffers
no diminution at your hands."

Thus spake the Corinthians. Now there happened to be staying at
Lacedaemon an Athenian embassy which had come on other business, and
when the envoys heard what the Corinthians had said, they felt bound
to go before the Lacedaemonian assembly, not with the views of
answering the accusations brought against them by the cities, but they
wanted to put before the Lacedaemonians the whole question, and make
them understand that they should take time to deliberate and not be
rash. They desired also to set forth the greatness of their city,
reminding the elder men of what they knew, and informing the younger
of what lay beyond their experience. They thought that their words
would sway the Lacedaemonians in the direction of peace. So they came
and said that, if they might be allowed, they too would like