83
And in doing this they themselves counted the city happy, while many of the simple-minded deemed it blessed, taking no thought whatsoever for future consequences but admiring and envying the wealth which flowed into the city unjustly and which was soon to destroy also that which justly belonged to it.
84
For they reached such a degree of neglect of their own possessions and of covetousness of the possessions of other states that when the Lacedaemonians had invaded our territory and the fortifications at DeceleaThis strong position on the slope of Mt. Parnes in Attica was seized and fortified by the Spartans as an outpost from which to raid Athenian territory in 413 B.C. had already been built, they manned triremes to send to SicilyThe original expedition to Sicily was dispatched in 415 B.C. Strong reinforcements were, however, sent at the time Decelea was fortified by the Spartans. See Thuc. 7.20. and were not ashamed to permit their own country to be cut off and plunderedSee Isoc. 8.92. by the enemy while dispatching an expedition against a people who had never in any respect offended against us.
85
Nay, they arrived at such a pitch of folly that at a time when they were not masters of their own suburbsDecelea was 14 miles from Athens, but the Athenians kept within their walls, and the Spartans ravaged thier territory almost at will. See Thuc. 7.19 ff. they expected to extend their power over Italy and Sicily and Carthage.Thucydides makes Alcibiades voice the expectation of conquering first Sicily, then Italy, and then Carthage. See Thuc. 6.90. And so far did they outdo all mankind in recklessness that whereas misfortunes chasten others and render them more prudent our fathers learned no lessons even from this discipline.
