22 24] SECOND SPEECH OF MCI AS 197 we should be detained by a calm, the army may not want food ; for it is not every city that will be able to receive so large a force as ours. We must make our preparations as complete as possible, and not be at the mercy of others ; above all, we must take out with us as much money as we can ; for as to the supplies of the Egestaeans which are said to be awaiting us, we had better assume that they are imaginary. ' Even supposing we leave Athens with a force of our 23 own, not merely equal to that of the We must leave no- enemy, but in every way superior, ex- t'>'*'S ^° chance. ccpt indeed as regards the number of hoplites which they can put into the field, for in that respect equality is impossible, still it will be no easy task to conquer Sicily, or indeed to preserve ourselves. You ought to consider that we are like men going to found a city in a land of strangers and enemies, who on the very day of their disembarkation must have command of the country ; for if they meet with a disaster they will have no friends. And this is what I fear. We shall have much need of prudence ; still more of good fortune (and who can guarantee this to mortals ?). Wherefore I would trust myself and the expedition as little as possible to accident, and would not sail until I had taken such precautions as will be likely to ensure our safety. This I conceive to be the course which is the most prudent for the whole state, and, for us who are sent upon the expedition, a condition of safety. If any one thinks otherwise, to him I resign the command ' These were the words of Nicias. He meant either to 24 deter the Athenians by bringing home The Athemaus are to them the vastness of the under- not deterred by the vast takinsr, or to provide as far as he could J°^" *I,^'"y' ,■ '" o' r ... greater (he preparation for the security of the expedition if the more they are as- he were compelled to proceed. The sn red 0/ safety. result disappointed him. Far from losing their enthu- siasm at the disagreeable prospect, they were more deter-
