30
Then again I think that you must bear this in mind, that if you reject the Megalopolitans and they are overthrown and decentralized,By destroying their metropolis and compelling them to live in scattered and unwalled villages. the Lacedaemonians can at once be a great power, or if they do escape destruction—for such miracles have happened before now—they are bound to be the staunch friends of Thebes; but if you accept them as allies, Megalopolis will indeed owe its immediate deliverance to you, but we must put on one side all calculation of risk, and consider what will be the effect upon our relations with Thebes and Sparta.
31
Now if the Thebans are finally beaten, as they deserve to be, there will be no undue increase in the power of the Lacedaemonians, because there are their neighbors, the Arcadians, to balance it; but if the Thebans after all recover and are saved, at any rate they will be the weaker because we shall have gained these allies, saved by our help. Therefore it is in every way expedient that the Arcadians should not be abandoned, and that if they do survive, they should not seem to owe their preservation to themselves or to any other people than you.
32
Men of Athens, I solemnly assure you that I am not prompted by private friendship or enmity for either party, but have said what I consider expedient for you; and I urge you not to abandon the Megalopolitans, and, as a general principle, never to sacrifice the weak to the strong.
