Book 3
5.4
But, you see, since the disasters sustained by Tolmides and the Thousand at LebadeaAt the battle of Coronea (or Lebadea) in 446 B.C., the Boeotians defeated and destroyed the Athenian army and gained independence (Thucydides, I. 113). and by Hippocrates at Delium,The Athenians were heavily defeated by the Boeotians at Delium in 424 B.C. (ibid. IV. 96 f.). the relations of the Athenians and Boeotians are changed: the glory of the Athenians is brought low, the pride of the Thebans is exalted; and now the Boeotians, who formerly would not venture, even in their own country, to face the Athenians without help from Sparta and the rest of the Peloponnese, threaten to invade Attica by themselves, and the Athenians, who formerly overran Boeotia, fear that the Boeotians may plunder Attica.
5.5
Ah, I am aware of that, answered Socrates; but the disposition of our city is now more to a good ruler’s liking. For confidence breeds carelessness, slackness, disobedience: fear makes men more attentive, more obedient, more amenable to discipline. The behaviour of sailors is a case in point.
5.6
So long as they have nothing to fear, they are, I believe, an unruly lot, but when they expect a storm or an attack, they not only carry out all orders, but watch in silence for the word of command like choristers.
5.7
Well, exclaimed Pericles, if they are now in the mood for obedience, it seems time to say how we can revive in them a longing for the old virtue and fame and happiness.
5.8
If then, said Socrates, we wanted them to claim money that others held, the best way of egging them on to seize it would be to show them that it was their fathers’ money and belongs to them. As we want them to strive for pre-eminence in virtue, we must show that this belonged to them in old days, and that by striving for it they will surpass all other men.
5.9
How then can we teach this?I think by reminding them that their earliest ancestors of whom we have any account were, as they themselves have been told, the most valiant.
