and roadsteads,
without which it is not possible to turn a naval power to account.
Again, you have many ships of war. To extend your naval empire is a
traditional policy; all the arts and sciences connected with these
matters you possess as home products, and, what is more, in skill and
experience of nautical affairs you are far ahead of the rest of the
world. The majority of you derive your livelihood from the sea, or
things connected with it; so that in the very act of minding your own
affairs you are training yourselves to enter the lists of naval combat.
(4) Again, no other power in the world can send out a larger collective
fleet, and that is no insignificant point in reference to the
question of leadership. The nucleus of strength first gained becomes
a rallying-point, round which the rest of the world will gladly
congregate. Furthermore, your good fortune in this department must
be looked upon as a definite gift of God: for, consider among the
numberless great sea-fights which you have fought how few you have
lost, how many you have won. It is only rational, then, that your allies
should much prefer to share this particular risk with you. Indeed,
to show you how natural and vital to you is this maritime study, the
following reflection may serve. For several years the Lacedaemonians,
when at war with you in old days, dominated your territory, but they
made no progress towards destroying you. At last God granted them one
day to push forward their dominion on the sea, and then in an instant
you completely succumbed to them. (5) Is it not self-evident that
your safety altogether depends upon the sea? The sea is your natural
element--your birthright; it would be base indeed to entrust the
hegemony of it to the Lacedaemonians, and the more so, since, as they
themselves admit, they are far less acquainted with this business than
yourselves; and, secondly, your risk in naval battles would not be for
equal stakes--theirs involving only the loss of the men on board their
ships, but yours, that of your children and your wives and the entire
state.

(4) See "Pol. Ath." i. 19 foll.

(5) See "Hell." II. i.

"And if this is a fair statement of your position, turn, now, and
consider that of the Lacedaemonians. The first point to notice is, that
they are an inland power; as long as they are dominant on land it does
not matter how much they are cut off from the sea--they can carry
on existence happily enough. This they so fu