59
For my part, I consider that the strongest and surest ally we can have is just dealing, for it is probable that the favor of the gods will be with those who deal justly—that is, if we may judge the future by the past; and in addition to this ally are good government and sober habits of life, and a willingness to battle to the death against the enemy, and the conviction that nothing is so much to be dreaded as the reproaches of our fellow-citizens—qualities which we possess in larger measure than any other people in existence.
60
With these allies I would far rather go to war than with multitudes of soldiers, for I know that those of our people who first came to this country did not prevail over their adversaries through numbers, but through the virtues which I have just set forth. Therefore we ought not to stand in fear of our enemies because they are many, but should much rather take courage when we see that we ourselves have borne up under our misfortunes as no other people have ever done,
61
and that we still remain faithful to the customs and ways of life which we established here in the very beginning, while the rest of the Hellenes are not able to stand even their good fortune, but have become completely demoralized, some of them seizing the cities of their allies,That is, those of the Theban league. Isocrates is here describing Thebes and especially her allies in the Peloponnesus. others opposing them in this; some disputing with their neighbors about territory, others, again, indulging their envy of one anotherSee note a, p. 352. Xen. Hell. 7.1.32, says that the Thebans and Eleans were no less pleased at the defeat of their allies, the Arcadians, in the “tearless” battle of 367 B.C. than were the Lacedaemonians. rather than making war against us. Therefore I wonder at those who look for a stronger ally than is found in the blundering of our enemies.
