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,