76. To what then shall I liken our present condition? It may be compared, I think, to some naval battle which has arisen out of time old quarrels, and is fought by men who cherish a deadly hate against one another, of long experience in naval warfare, and eager for the fight. Look, I beg you, at the picture thus raised before your eyes. See the rival fleets rushing in dread array to the attack. With a burst of uncontrollable fury they engage and fight it out. Fancy, if you like, the ships driven to and fro by a raging tempest, while thick darkness falls from the clouds and blackens all the scenes so that watchwords are indistinguishable in the confusion, and all distinction between friend and foe is lost. To fill up the details of the imaginary picture, suppose the sea swollen with billows and whirled up from the deep, while a vehement torrent of rain pours down from the clouds and the terrible waves rise high. From every quarter of heaven the winds beat upon one point, where both the fleets are dashed one against the other. Of the combatants some are turning traitors; some are deserting in the very thick of the fight; some have at one and the same moment to urge on their boats, all beaten by the gale, and to advance against their assailants. Jealousy of authority and the lust of individual mastery splits the sailors into parties which deal mutual death to one another. Think, besides all this, of the confused and unmeaning roar sounding over all the sea, from howling winds, from crashing vessels, from boiling surf, from the yells of the combatants as they express their varying emotions in every kind of noise, so that not a word from admiral or pilot can be heard. The disorder and confusion is tremendous, for the extremity of misfortune, when life is despaired of, gives men license for every kind of wickedness. Suppose, too, that the men are all smitten with the incurable plague of mad love of glory, so that they do not cease from their struggle each to get the better of the other, while their ship is actually settling down into the deep.

[76] Τίνι οὖν ὁμοιώσομεν τὴν παροῦσαν κατάστασιν; Ἦ που ὁμοία ἐστὶ πολέμῳ τινὶ ναυτικῷ, ὃν ἐκ παλαιῶν προσκρουσμάτων, πολὺν κατ' ἀλλήλων τὸν θυμὸν θρέψαντες, ναύμαχοί τινες ἄνδρες καὶ φιλοπόλεμοι συνεστήσαντο. Ὅρα δὴ οὖν μοι ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι ταύτῃ φοβερῶς ἑκατέρωθεν ἀντεφορμῶντα τὸν στόλον, εἶτα εἰς τὸ ἀνήκεστον τῆς ὀργῆς ἐκραγείσης, συμπεσόντας διαγωνίζεσθαι. Ὑπόθου, εἰ βούλει, καὶ λαίλαπι βιαίᾳ κλονεῖσθαι τὸ ναυτικόν, καὶ ζόφον ἀθρόως ἐκ νεφῶν ἐπισχόντα μελαίνειν πᾶν τὸ ὁρώμενον, ὡς μηδεμίαν ἔτι εἶναι φίλων καὶ πολεμίων διάκρισιν, τῶν συμβόλων αὐτοῖς ἀγνοηθέντων διὰ τὴν σύγχυσιν. Ἔτι προσθήσωμεν δι' ἐνάργειαν τῇ εἰκόνι καὶ θάλασσαν οἰδοῦσαν καὶ ἄνω στρεφομένην ἐκ τῶν βυθῶν, καὶ λάβρον ἐκ νεφῶν ὕδωρ καταρρηγνύμενον, καὶ φοβερὸν ἐπανιστάμενον ἐκ τρικυμίας τὸν κλύδωνα: εἶτα πανταχόθεν τῶν πνευμάτων εἰς ταὐτὸν συμπεσόντων, πάντα τὸν στόλον συναρασσόμενον, καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ παρατάξεως τοὺς μὲν καταπροδιδόντας, καὶ παρ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἀγωνίαν αὐτομολοῦντας: τοὺς δὲ ἀνάγκην ἔχειν, ὁμοῦ τε διωθεῖσθαι τὰ σκάφη ἐκ τῶν ἀνέμων ἐπιφερόμενα, καὶ ἀντεπιέναι τοῖς ἐφορμῶσι, καὶ ἀλλήλους καταφονεύειν ὑπὸ τῆς στάσεως, ἣν ὁ πρὸς τὸ ὑπερέχον φθόνος καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τοῦ αὐτὸν ἕκαστον κρατεῖν ἐνεποίησεν. Ἐνθυμήθητι ἐπὶ τούτοις συμμιγῆ τινα καὶ ἄσημον ἦχον πᾶσαν ἐπέχοντα τὴν ἐκεῖ θάλασσαν, ἐκ τῶν περιηχούντων ἀνέμων, καὶ τοῦ πατάγου τῶν πλοίων, καὶ τοῦ ῥοθίου ζέοντος, καὶ ἐκ τῆς βοῆς τῶν πολεμούντων, παντοδαπὰς φωνὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς πάθεσιν ἀφιέντων: ὡς μήτε ναυάρχου μήτε κυβερνήτου φωνὴν εἰσακούεσθαι, ἀλλὰ δεινήν τινα εἶναι ἀταξίαν καὶ σύγχυσιν, τῆς τῶν κακῶν ὑπερβολῆς, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἀπόγνωσιν, ἅπασαν αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν ἄδειαν ἐμποιούσης. Πρόσθες αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀμήχανόν τινα νόσον δοξομανίας: ὥστε τῆς νεὼς ἤδη εἰς βυθὸν φερομένης, τοὺς ἐπιβάτας ἀλλήλοις τῆς τῶν πρωτείων ἔριδος μὴ ὑφίεσθαι.