History of the Peloponnesian War

And yet, if they were really honest men, as they pretend to be, the less liable they were to attack by their neighbours the more clearly they might have demonstrated their virtuous motives by offering and accepting proposals of arbitration.

"But neither toward others nor toward us have they shown themselves honest men; on the contrary, although they are colonists of ours, they have constantly stood aloof from us, and now they are at war with us, claiming that they were not sent out to be ill treated.

But neither did we colonize them to be insulted by them, but to be their leaders and to receive from them all due reverence.

The rest of our colonies, at any rate, honour us, and by our colonists we are beloved more than is any other mother-city.