[107]
On account of these services it becomes all thinking men to be deeply grateful to us, much rather than to reproach us because of our system of colonization;1 for we sent our colonies into the depopulated states for the protection of their territories and not for our own aggrandizement. And here is proof of this: We had in proportion to the number of our citizens a very small territory,2 but a very great empire; we possessed twice as many ships of war as all the rest combined,3 and these were strong enough to engage double their number; at the very borders of Attica lay Euboea,
1 Allotments of lands to Athenian colonists in Greek territory, as in Scione and Melos. See note on 101. For these “cleruchies,” as they were called, see Gardner and Jevons, Manual of Greek Antiquities, pp. 602 ff.
2 The total population including foreign residents and slaves is reckoned at about 500,000; the total area is about 700 square miles.
3 See Thuc. 2.13 and Thuc. 8.79.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
