47
Now there is a foolish argument advanced by those who want to reassure the citizens. Philip, they say, after all is not yet what the Lacedaemonians were; they were masters of every sea and land; they enjoyed the alliance of the king of Persia; nothing could stand against them: and yet our city defended itself even against them and was not overwhelmed. But for my own part, while practically all the arts have made a great advance and we are living today in a very different world from the old one, I consider that nothing has been more revolutionized and improved than the art of war.
48
For in the first place I am informed that in those days the Lacedaemonians, like everyone else, would spend the four or five months of the summer season in invading and laying waste the enemy’s territory with heavy infantry and levies of citizens, and would then retire home again; and they were so old-fashioned, or rather such good citizens,The Greek means true to the spirit of a free, constitutional state. Aristotle describes the πολιτικὸν πλῆθος as one which is naturally warlike and qualified to rule or be ruled according to laws which distribute offices by merit (Aristot. Pol. 3.17.4). that they never used money to buy an advantage from anyone, but their fighting was of the fair and open kind.
