Allies

And I, for my part, will try to see to it, as far as I can, that the soldiers are supplied with all that they need, while they are deliberating about going on with the campaign.

Now, if the allies we have gained would only stay on with us, we should be able to accomplish much more both by force, when occasion calls for it, and by persuasion, when that is needed;

Do not, however, aim at displaying to us the arguments that you will address to each one of them, but set to work with the feeling that those who are persuaded by any one of you will show what they are by what they do.

or, from the several states of the alliance, Such-and-such a City to the People by whom they were delivered, or, The liberated Euboeans, for example, crown the People;

Rouse all the other states.

For if they had plunged into war in reliance on your advice, they would perhaps have proved uncertain allies and only half-hearted in their resolve;

that we did not suffer these losses long ago and that this opportunity of alliance affords us some compensation, if we choose to accept it, this I for my part should put down as a signal instance of the favor of the gods.

For a city’s wealth I hold to be allies, credit, goodwill, and of all these you are destitute.

all your politicians should have trained you to be gentle and humane in the Assembly, for there you are dealing with rights that concern yourselves and your allies, but in preparing for war they should have made you threatening and intractable, because there you are pitted against your enemies and rivals.

To know and realize all this, to shake off our outrageous and incurable slothfulness, to contribute funds, to call upon our allies, and to provide and arrange for the permanent upkeep of our existing army, so that just as Philip has a force ready to attack and enslave all the Greek states, so you may have one ready to protect and assist them all.

but when all preparation for war is on the same lines and the main objects of an armed force are the same—to be strong enough to repel the enemy, to assist one’s allies, and to preserve one’s own possessions-why, having open enemies enough, must we be looking out for another?

But later on, if what we now deem probable comes to pass, surely no Greek community has such a good conceit of itself that when they see that you have a thousand cavalry and as many infantry as one could desire and three hundred ships, they will not come as our suitors, feeling that with such support their safety is assured.

in the Decelean War they lost ten thousand heavy armed troops of their own and of their allies, and in Sicily forty thousand men and two hundred and forty ships, and, finally, in the Hellespont two hundred ships.

And we have reached such a degree of imbecility that, although we are ourselves in need of the necessities of daily existence, we have undertaken to support mercenary troops and we do violence to our own allies and extort money from them in order to provide pay for the common enemies of all mankind.

And, what is most important of all, we shall have all mankind as our allies—allies who will not have been forced, but rather persuaded, to join with us, who will not welcome our friendship because of our power when we are secure only to abandon us when we are in peril, but who will be disposed towards us as those should be who are in very truth allies and friends.

And not content with their other base misrepresentations, they now say that they pursued this course for the common good of the allies.

Let no one of you, then, be afraid, if Justice is with him, to take such dangers upon himself, nor think that allies will be lacking, if you are willing to aid all who are victims of wrong, and not the Thebans alone;

But I imagine that on the subject of the treaties they will not venture to show their impudence, but will resort to the argument that we were taking the side of the Lacedaemonians in the war and that by destroying us they have benefited the entire confederacy.

on the contrary, you will find that I have been the counsellor and coadjutor of those who have chosen to speak well of you and of our other allies, and that I have myself composed more discourses on behalf of the freedom and independence of the Greeks than all those together who have worn smooth the floor of our platforms.

For you will find that I have had the most intimate relations with those who have been the authors of the greatest benefits to both you and the other allies, and that while those for whom I intercede are men of such character as to give no offence to their elders and to those in governmental authority, to the younger men they furnish agreeable and useful occupation that befits those of their age.

Get her allies.

Everyone present will be an ally, everyone absent will long to see you.

and should any danger arise, you will find in them not merely allies, but champions and zealots.