History of the Peloponnesian War

“For if we go from here provided with an equipment of our own that is not only equal to theirs —except indeed as regards their fighting troops of heavy-armed men—but that even surpasses it in all respects, scarcely even so shall we be able to conquer Sicily or indeed to preserve our own army.

It is, in fact, as you must believe, a city that we are going forth to found amid alien and hostile peoples, and it behooves men in such an enterprise to be at once, on the very day they land, masters of the soil, or at least to know that, if they fail in this, everything will be hostile to them.

Fearing, then, this very result, and knowing that to succeed we must have been wise in planning to a large extent, but to a still larger extent must have good fortune—a difficult thing, as we are but men—I wish, when I set sail, to have committed myself as little as possible to fortune, but so far as preparation is concerned to be, in all human probability, safe.

For these precautions I regard as not only surest for the whole state but also as safeguards for us who are to go on the expedition. But if it seem otherwise to anyone, I yield the command to him.”

So much Nicias said, thinking that he would deter the Athenians by the multitude of his requirements, or, if he should be forced to make the expedition, he would in this way set out most safely.

They, however, were not diverted from their eagerness for the voyage by reason of the burdensomeness of the equipment, but were far more bent upon it; and the result was just the opposite of what he had expected; for it seemed to them that he had given good advice, and that now certainly there would be abundant security.

And upon all alike there fell an eager desire to sail—upon the elders, from a belief that they would either subdue the places they were sailing against, or that at any rate a great force could suffer no disaster; upon those in the flower of their age, through a longing for far-off sights and scenes, in good hopes as they were of a safe return; and upon the great multitude—that is, the soldiers[*](Taking στρατιώτης as predicate; or, “the great multitude and the soldiery were hoping to get money for the present,” etc.)—who hoped not only to get money for the present, but also to acquire additional dominion which would always be an inexhaustible source of pay.

And so, on account of the exceeding eagerness of the majority, even if anyone was not satisfied, he held his peace, in the fear that if he voted in opposition he might seem to be disloyal to the state.