101
We must not attribute the cause to any subsequent misfortunes but to their crimes in the beginning, as the result of which they were brought to such a disastrous end. So that anyone would be much more in accord with the truth if he should assert that they first became subject to the dominion of their present ills at the moment when they attempted to seize the dominion of the sea,For this word-play cf. Isoc. 5.61, note; also this discourse, Isoc. 8.105. since they were seeking to acquire a power which was in no wise like that which they had before possessed.
102
For because of their supremacy on land and of their stern discipline and of the self control which was cultivated under it, they readily obtained command of the sea, whereas because of the arroganceThe best commentary upon the association here of self-control (moderation) with an inland power and of the opposite with a sea power is a very interesting passage of the Isoc. 12.115-116. which was bred in them by that power they speedily lost the supremacy both on land and sea. For they no longer kept the laws which they had inherited from their ancestors nor remained faithful to the ways which they had followed in times past,
103
but conceived that they were licensed to do whatever they pleased and so were plunged into great confusion. For they did not know that this licence which all the world aspires to attain is a difficult thing to manage, that it turns the heads of those who are enamored by it, and that it is in its nature like courtesans, who lure their victims to love but destroy those who indulge this passion.
