# A twenty-five year old parallel?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-twenty-five-year-old-parallel/165171>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 30, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-twenty-five-year-old-parallel/165171 "2003-03-30T04:59:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-twenty-five-year-old-parallel/165171/1 "2003-03-30T04:59:15Z")

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A friend sent this to me;

By Thucydides, Written 431 B.C.

“In going to Sicily you are leaving many enemies behind you, and you  
apparently want to make new ones there and have them also on your hands. . . .  
[E]ven if we did conquer the Sicilians, there are so many of them and they  
live so far off that it would be very difficult to govern them. It is  
senseless to go against people who, even if conquered, could not be  
controlled, while failure would leave us much worse off than we were before we made the attempt. . . . [T]he next best thing is to make a demonstration of our power and then, after a short time, go away again. We all know that what is most admired is what is farthest off and least liable to have its  
reputation put to the test. . . . The right thing is that we should spend our  
new gains at home and on ourselves instead of on these exiles who are begging for assistance and whose interest it is to tell lies and make us believe them, who have nothing to contribute themselves except speeches, who leave all the danger to others and, if they are successful, will not be properly grateful, while if they fail in any way they will involve their friends in their own ruin.” - Nicias

Cool, huh? 🆒  
Peace,  
mangeorge

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-twenty-five-year-old-parallel/165171/2 "2003-03-30T05:01:34Z")

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Twenty-five _hundred_ year old, that is. Preview everything.