Laudator Temporis Acti

Thucydides 1.70 (Corinthians addressing Spartans; tr. Jeremy Mynott):

[1] Besides, surely we if anyone have the right to level complaints against our neighbours, especially when such large differences are at stake — and ones to which you are quite insensitive in our view. You seem never once to have analysed these Athenians, to see just what sort of people you are going to be up against nor how totally different they are from yourselves.

[2] They are natural innovators, quick to have ideas and then to put their plans into action. Your instinct on the other hand is to keep things as they are, not to make any new decisions and not even to take the minimum action necessary.

[3] Then again, they are bold beyond their means, they run risks beyond reason and stay sanguine in times of trouble; your way, on the other hand, is to do less than your power allows, to distrust even your surest judgements and never to expect deliverance from dangers.

[4] In truth, they never shrink from action while you always hesitate; they are always abroad while you never leave home. They expect to gain something by being away, you expect that by venturing out you might harm even what you have.

[5] In any military success they press their advantage to the limit, in defeat they fall back as little as possible.

[6] Their bodies they disown and sacrifice to the service of the state, but their minds are very much their own in acting on her behalf.

[7] And if they fail to go and achieve something they have planned on doing they believe they have been deprived of what was already theirs, while if they succeed in getting what they went for they count that a small gain compared with future prospects; and should they actually fail in some venture they redirect their hopes to make good the loss elsewhere. For them alone to hope for something is to have it, such is their speed in executing their plans. they count that a small gain compared with future prospects; and should they actually fail in some venture they redirect their hopes to make good the loss elsewhere. For them alone to hope for something is to have it, such is their speed in executing their plans.

[8] This, then, is their life-long labour, in hardship and in danger. They scarcely enjoy what they have because they are always after getting more; the only holiday they can imagine is in doing what they feel they must, and they think of idle leisure as a greater disaster than irksome toil.

[9] In sum, you could rightly say that they are born neither to enjoy any peace themselves nor to allow it to others.

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[1] καὶ ἅμα, εἴπερ τινὲς καὶ ἄλλοι, νομίζομεν ἄξιοι εἶναι τοῖς πέλας ψόγον ἐπενεγκεῖν, ἄλλως τε καὶ μεγάλων τῶν διαφερόντων καθεστώτων, περὶ ὧν οὐκ αἰσθάνεσθαι ἡμῖν γε δοκεῖτε οὐδ᾿ ἐκλογίσασθαι πώποτε πρὸς οἵους ὑμῖν Ἀθηναίους ὄντας καὶ ὅσον ὑμῶν καὶ ὡς πᾶν διαφέροντας ὁ ἀγὼν ἔσται.

[2] οἱ μέν γε νεωτεροποιοὶ καὶ ἐπινοῆσαι ὀξεῖς καὶ ἐπιτελέσαι ἔργῳ ἃ ἂν γνῶσιν, ὑμεῖς δὲ τὰ ὑπάρχοντά τε σῴζειν καὶ ἐπιγνῶναι μηδὲν καὶ ἔργῳ οὐδὲ τἀναγκαῖα ἐξικέσθαι.

[3] αὖθις δὲ οἱ μὲν καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν τολμηταὶ καὶ παρὰ γνώμην κινδυνευταὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς εὐέλπιδες· τὸ δὲ ὑμέτερον τῆς τε δυνάμεως ἐνδεᾶ πρᾶξαι τῆς τε γνώμης μηδὲ τοῖς βεβαίοις πιστεῦσαι τῶν τε δεινῶν μηδέποτε οἴεσθαι ἀπολυθήσεσθαι.

[4] καὶ μὴν καὶ ἄοκνοι πρὸς ὑμὰς μελλητὰς καὶ ἀποδημηταὶ πρὸς ἐνδημοτάτους· οἴονται γὰρ οἱ μὲν τῇ ἀπουσίᾳ ἄν τι κτᾶσθαι, ὑμεῖς δὲ τῷ ἐξελθεῖν καὶ τὰ ἑτοῖμα ἂν βλάψαι.

[5] κρατοῦντές τε τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐξέρχονται καὶ νικώμενοι ἐπ᾿ ἐλάχιστον ἀναπίπτουσιν.

[6] ἔτι δὲ τοῖς μὲν σώμασιν ἀλλοτριωτάτοις ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως χρῶνται, τῇ δὲ γνώμῃ οἰκειοτάτῃ ἐς τὸ πράσσειν τι ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς·

[7] καὶ ἃ μὲν ἂν ἐπινοήσαντες μὴ ἐπεξέλθωσιν, οἰκείων στέρεσθαι ἡγοῦνται, ἃ δ᾿ ἂν ἐπελθόντες κτήσωνται, ὀλίγα πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα τυχεῖν πράξαντες, ἢν δ᾿ ἄρα του καὶ πείρᾳ σφαλῶσιν, ἀντελπίσαντες ἄλλα ἐπλήρωσαν τὴν χρείαν· μόνοι γὰρ ἔχουσί τε ὁμοίως καὶ ἐλπίζουσιν ἃ ἂν ἐπινοήσωσι διὰ τὸ ταχεῖαν τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν ποιεῖσθαι ὧν ἂν γνῶσιν.

[8] καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ πόνων πάντα καὶ κινδύνων δι᾿ ὅλου τοῦ αἰῶνος μοχθοῦσι, καὶ ἀπολαύουσιν ἐλάχιστα τῶν ὑπαρχόντων διὰ τὸ αἰεὶ κτᾶσθαι καὶ μήτε ἑορτὴν ἄλλο τι ἡγεῖσθαι ἢ τὸ τὰ δέοντα πρᾶξαι ξυμφοράν τε οὐχ ἧσσον ἡσυχίαν ἀπράγμονα ἢ ἀσχολίαν ἐπίπονον·

[9] ὥστε εἴ τις αὐτοὺς ξυνελὼν φαίη πεφυκέναι ἐπὶ τῷ μήτε αὐτοὺς ἔχειν ἡσυχίαν μήτε τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ἐᾶν, ὀρθῶς ἂν εἴποι.