Book 7
1.6
And that this devotion to the sea is indeed both necessary and proper for you, you must conclude from the following fact: the Lacedaemonians once made war upon you for many years, The reference is to the Peloponnesian War, which was terminated by the capture of the Athenian fleet by the Lacedaemonians at Aegospotami (Hell. II. i. 20-32). and though masters of your land could make no progress toward destroying you. But when at length the deity granted them to win the mastery by sea, straightway you fell completely under their power.369 B.C. In these circumstances, therefore, it is plain to be seen that all your safety depends upon the sea.
1.7
Such, then, being the situation ordained by nature, how could you be content to allow the Lacedaemonians to be leaders by sea, when, in the first place, they themselves admit that they are less experienced than you are in this work, and when, in the second place, they do not risk as much as you do in contests by sea, but merely the people on board the triremes, whereas you risk wives and children and the entire state.
