THE next summer Alcibiades sailed with twenty ships to Argos and seized the suspected persons still left of the Lacedaemonian faction1 to the number of three hundred, whom the Athenians forthwith lodged2 in the neighbouring islands of their empire. The Athenians also made an expedition against the isle3 of Melos with thirty ships of their own, six Chian, and two Lesbian vessels4, sixteen hundred heavy infantry5, three hundred archers6, and twenty mounted archers from Athens, and about fifteen hundred heavy infantry from the allies and the islanders. The Melians are a colony of Lacedaemon that would not submit to the Athenians like the other islanders, and at first remained neutral and took no part in the struggle, but afterwards upon the Athenians using violence and plundering7 their territory, assumed an attitude of open hostility9. Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes, and Tisias, son of Tisimachus, the generals, encamping in their territory with the above armament, before doing any harm to their land, sent envoys10 to negotiate. These the Melians did not bring before the people, but bade them state the object of their mission to the magistrates11 and the few; upon which the Athenian envoys spoke12 as follows:
Athenians. Since the negotiations14 are not to go on before the people, in order that we may not be able to speak straight on without interruption, and deceive the ears of the multitude by seductive arguments which would pass without refutation (for we know that this is the meaning of our being brought before the few), what if you who sit there were to pursue a method more cautious still? Make no set speech yourselves, but take us up at whatever you do not like, and settle that before going any farther. And first tell us if this proposition of ours suits you.
The Melian commissioners15 answered:
Melians. To the fairness of quietly instructing each other as you propose there is nothing to object; but your military preparations are too far advanced to agree with what you say, as we see you are come to be judges in your own cause, and that all we can reasonably expect from this negotiation13 is war, if we prove to have right on our side and refuse to submit, and in the contrary case, slavery.
Athenians. If you have met to reason about presentiments16 of the future, or for anything else than to consult for the safety of your state upon the facts that you see before you, we will give over; otherwise we will go on.
Melians. It is natural and excusable for men in our position to turn more ways than one both in thought and utterance17. However, the question in this conference is, as you say, the safety of our country; and the discussion, if you please, can proceed in the way which you propose.
Athenians. For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious18 pretences19 — either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew20 the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have done us — and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists21, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
Melians. As we think, at any rate, it is expedient22 — we speak as we are obliged, since you enjoin23 us to let right alone and talk only of interest — that you should not destroy what is our common protection, the privilege of being allowed in danger to invoke24 what is fair and right, and even to profit by arguments not strictly25 valid26 if they can be got to pass current. And you are as much interested in this as any, as your fall would be a signal for the heaviest vengeance27 and an example for the world to meditate28 upon.
Athenians. The end of our empire, if end it should, does not frighten us: a rival empire like Lacedaemon, even if Lacedaemon was our real antagonist29, is not so terrible to the vanquished30 as subjects who by themselves attack and overpower their rulers. This, however, is a risk that we are content to take. We will now proceed to show you that we are come here in the interest of our empire, and that we shall say what we are now going to say, for the preservation31 of your country; as we would fain exercise that empire over you without trouble, and see you preserved for the good of us both.
Melians. And how, pray, could it turn out as good for us to serve as for you to rule?
Athenians. Because you would have the advantage of submitting before suffering the worst, and we should gain by not destroying you.
Melians. So that you would not consent to our being neutral, friends instead of enemies, but allies of neither side.
Athenians. No; for your hostility cannot so much hurt us as your friendship will be an argument to our subjects of our weakness, and your enmity of our power.
Melians. Is that your subjects’ idea of equity32, to put those who have nothing to do with you in the same category with peoples that are most of them your own colonists, and some conquered rebels?
Athenians. As far as right goes they think one has as much of it as the other, and that if any maintain their independence it is because they are strong, and that if we do not molest33 them it is because we are afraid; so that besides extending our empire we should gain in security by your subjection; the fact that you are islanders and weaker than others rendering34 it all the more important that you should not succeed in baffling the masters of the sea.
Melians. But do you consider that there is no security in the policy which we indicate? For here again if you debar us from talking about justice and invite us to obey your interest, we also must explain ours, and try to persuade you, if the two happen to coincide. How can you avoid making enemies of all existing neutrals who shall look at case from it that one day or another you will attack them? And what is this but to make greater the enemies that you have already, and to force others to become so who would otherwise have never thought of it?
Athenians. Why, the fact is that continentals35 generally give us but little alarm; the liberty which they enjoy will long prevent their taking precautions against us; it is rather islanders like yourselves, outside our empire, and subjects smarting under the yoke36, who would be the most likely to take a rash step and lead themselves and us into obvious danger.
Melians. Well then, if you risk so much to retain your empire, and your subjects to get rid of it, it were surely great baseness and cowardice37 in us who are still free not to try everything that can be tried, before submitting to your yoke.
Athenians. Not if you are well advised, the contest not being an equal one, with honour as the prize and shame as the penalty, but a question of self-preservation and of not resisting those who are far stronger than you are.
Melians. But we know that the fortune of war is sometimes more impartial38 than the disproportion of numbers might lead one to suppose; to submit is to give ourselves over to despair, while action still preserves for us a hope that we may stand erect39.
Athenians. Hope, danger’s comforter, may be indulged in by those who have abundant resources, if not without loss at all events without ruin; but its nature is to be extravagant40, and those who go so far as to put their all upon the venture see it in its true colours only when they are ruined; but so long as the discovery would enable them to guard against it, it is never found wanting. Let not this be the case with you, who are weak and hang on a single turn of the scale; nor be like the vulgar, who, abandoning such security as human means may still afford, when visible hopes fail them in extremity41, turn to invisible, to prophecies and oracles42, and other such inventions that delude43 men with hopes to their destruction.
Melians. You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the difficulty of contending against your power and fortune, unless the terms be equal. But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that what we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the Lacedaemonians, who are bound, if only for very shame, to come to the aid of their kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is not so utterly45 irrational46.
Athenians. When you speak of the favour of the gods, we may as fairly hope for that as yourselves; neither our pretensions47 nor our conduct being in any way contrary to what men believe of the gods, or practise among themselves. Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can. And it is not as if we were the first to make this law, or to act upon it when made: we found it existing before us, and shall leave it to exist for ever after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing that you and everybody else, having the same power as we have, would do the same as we do. Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we have no fear and no reason to fear that we shall be at a disadvantage. But when we come to your notion about the Lacedaemonians, which leads you to believe that shame will make them help you, here we bless your simplicity48 but do not envy your folly49. The Lacedaemonians, when their own interests or their country’s laws are in question, are the worthiest50 men alive; of their conduct towards others much might be said, but no clearer idea of it could be given than by shortly saying that of all the men we know they are most conspicuous51 in considering what is agreeable honourable52, and what is expedient just. Such a way of thinking does not promise much for the safety which you now unreasonably53 count upon.
Melians. But it is for this very reason that we now trust to their respect for expediency54 to prevent them from betraying the Melians, their colonists, and thereby55 losing the confidence of their friends in Hellas and helping56 their enemies.
Athenians. Then you do not adopt the view that expediency goes with security, while justice and honour cannot be followed without danger; and danger the Lacedaemonians generally court as little as possible.
Melians. But we believe that they would be more likely to face even danger for our sake, and with more confidence than for others, as our nearness to Peloponnese makes it easier for them to act, and our common blood ensures our fidelity57.
Athenians. Yes, but what an intending ally trusts to is not the goodwill58 of those who ask his aid, but a decided59 superiority of power for action; and the Lacedaemonians look to this even more than others. At least, such is their distrust of their home resources that it is only with numerous allies that they attack a neighbour; now is it likely that while we are masters of the sea they will cross over to an island?
Melians. But they would have others to send. The Cretan Sea is a wide one, and it is more difficult for those who command it to intercept60 others, than for those who wish to elude44 them to do so safely. And should the Lacedaemonians miscarry in this, they would fall upon your land, and upon those left of your allies whom Brasidas did not reach; and instead of places which are not yours, you will have to fight for your own country and your own confederacy.
Athenians. Some diversion of the kind you speak of you may one day experience, only to learn, as others have done, that the Athenians never once yet withdrew from a siege for fear of any. But we are struck by the fact that, after saying you would consult for the safety of your country, in all this discussion you have mentioned nothing which men might trust in and think to be saved by. Your strongest arguments depend upon hope and the future, and your actual resources are too scanty61, as compared with those arrayed against you, for you to come out victorious62. You will therefore show great blindness of judgment63, unless, after allowing us to retire, you can find some counsel more prudent64 than this. You will surely not be caught by that idea of disgrace, which in dangers that are disgraceful, and at the same time too plain to be mistaken, proves so fatal to mankind; since in too many cases the very men that have their eyes perfectly65 open to what they are rushing into, let the thing called disgrace, by the mere66 influence of a seductive name, lead them on to a point at which they become so enslaved by the phrase as in fact to fall wilfully67 into hopeless disaster, and incur68 disgrace more disgraceful as the companion of error, than when it comes as the result of misfortune. This, if you are well advised, you will guard against; and you will not think it dishonourable to submit to the greatest city in Hellas, when it makes you the moderate offer of becoming its tributary69 ally, without ceasing to enjoy the country that belongs to you; nor when you have the choice given you between war and security, will you be so blinded as to choose the worse. And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the whole succeed best. Think over the matter, therefore, after our withdrawal70, and reflect once and again that it is for your country that you are consulting, that you have not more than one, and that upon this one deliberation depends its prosperity or ruin.
The Athenians now withdrew from the conference; and the Melians, left to themselves, came to a decision corresponding with what they had maintained in the discussion, and answered: “Our resolution, Athenians, is the same as it was at first. We will not in a moment deprive of freedom a city that has been inhabited these seven hundred years; but we put our trust in the fortune by which the gods have preserved it until now, and in the help of men, that is, of the Lacedaemonians; and so we will try and save ourselves. Meanwhile we invite you to allow us to be friends to you and foes71 to neither party, and to retire from our country after making such a treaty as shall seem fit to us both.”
Such was the answer of the Melians. The Athenians now departing from the conference said: “Well, you alone, as it seems to us, judging from these resolutions, regard what is future as more certain than what is before your eyes, and what is out of sight, in your eagerness, as already coming to pass; and as you have staked most on, and trusted most in, the Lacedaemonians, your fortune, and your hopes, so will you be most completely deceived.”
The Athenian envoys now returned to the army; and the Melians showing no signs of yielding, the generals at once betook themselves to hostilities72, and drew a line of circumvallation round the Melians, dividing the work among the different states. Subsequently the Athenians returned with most of their army, leaving behind them a certain number of their own citizens and of the allies to keep guard by land and sea. The force thus left stayed on and besieged73 the place.
About the same time the Argives invaded the territory of Phlius and lost eighty men cut off in an ambush74 by the Phliasians and Argive exiles. Meanwhile the Athenians at Pylos took so much plunder8 from the Lacedaemonians that the latter, although they still refrained from breaking off the treaty and going to war with Athens, yet proclaimed that any of their people that chose might plunder the Athenians. The Corinthians also commenced hostilities with the Athenians for private quarrels of their own; but the rest of the Peloponnesians stayed quiet. Meanwhile the Melians attacked by night and took the part of the Athenian lines over against the market, and killed some of the men, and brought in corn and all else that they could find useful to them, and so returned and kept quiet, while the Athenians took measures to keep better guard in future.
Summer was now over. The next winter the Lacedaemonians intended to invade the Argive territory, but arriving at the frontier found the sacrifices for crossing unfavourable, and went back again. This intention of theirs gave the Argives suspicions of certain of their fellow citizens, some of whom they arrested; others, however, escaped them. About the same time the Melians again took another part of the Athenian lines which were but feebly garrisoned75. Reinforcements afterwards arriving from Athens in consequence, under the command of Philocrates, son of Demeas, the siege was now pressed vigorously; and some treachery taking place inside, the Melians surrendered at discretion76 to the Athenians, who put to death all the grown men whom they took, and sold the women and children for slaves, and subsequently sent out five hundred colonists and inhabited the place themselves.
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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envoys
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| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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presentiments
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| n.（对不祥事物的）预感( presentiment的名词复数 ) | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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pretences
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| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
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overthrew
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| overthrow的过去式 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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enjoin
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| v.命令；吩咐；禁止 | |
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invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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continentals
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| n.（欧洲）大陆人( continental的名词复数 ) | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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oracles
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| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
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delude
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| vt.欺骗；哄骗 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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45
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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worthiest
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| 应得某事物( worthy的最高级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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70
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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71
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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72
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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73
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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75
garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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76
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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