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[14]
But there is one thing the Athenians lack.1 If they were thalassocrats living on an island, it would be possible for them to inflict harm, if they wished, but as long as they ruled the sea, to suffer none, -- neither the ravaging of their land nor the taking on of enemies. As it is, of the Athenians the farmers and the wealthy curry favour with the enemy, whereas the people, knowing that nothing of theirs will be burnt or cut down, live without fear and refuse to fawn upon the enemy.
1 This section of pseudo-Xenophon is strikingly similar to Pericles' remarks in Thuc. 1.143.5.