My dear Athenians, we have decided to rebuild the long walls with the contributions of many wealthy citizens and also with the property tax. This was the right decision as Athens will now be the beginning of a great city again. After Athens was crushed by the Spartans her legs were dismantled and as mighty Athena once stood proud among all of Hellas she now sits crippled, much like Hephaestus. She is now the joke of Mount Olympus and Zeus looks at his righteous daughter sitting on the floor like a sack of meal, and he pities her. She was once resplendent in her armor gleaming like a beacon for all virtue and beauty in the world. Now she cannot move and her armor has become tarnished by the filth of the ground. However Zeus does not abandon his daughter, although she may have been wounded she can rise again. Now we rebuild the long walls which were our defense and our support. Zeus is offering us his hand off of the floor so that we might return ourselves to our former glory. And yet in order to do so we must reach out our hands and not be afraid to fall on our faces. As the walls are rebuilt our beautiful goddess stands. And she stands slowly; she is still unstable and wobbly much like a toddler who is learning to walk again. the goddess need nourishment, care, and time to return to the splendor of the entire world. She will again be the fierce protector of our city, and we will again be the splendor of the entire world. And yet she cannot grow alone, and our pride cannot alone foster the growth of a blossoming city. A city like ours needs money. In order to return her to her former state she must also have her former income. It is necessary for us to exact tribute from all of our former contributors.
Previously we had an amazing navy which was used to conquer other parts of Hellas, and which we used to give protection to those contributors. We now have long walls to again aid our defense, now we need a defense. I propose that we rebuild the Athenian navy with its former 200 triremes. This will be an expensive process. I feel that every Athenian who is able to afford livestock should contribute to the defense of the city. Much as it was an honor to donate to the long walls, whether it was through a private contribution or through a tax, that this was done it was completely necessary to accomplish this task. We need to rebuild the navy and expand our empire to its former glory. After this burden of maintaining the navy can be shifted off of the private individual and onto the city states which we are exacting tribute from. This tax should not just apply to citizens but also anyone who turns a profit from living in our city. This includes metics of course, who should yield at least 25% of their total profits to the city which offers them her protection and opportunity to generate such revenue. Athenians, Zeus is calling the goddess to rise, shall we take his hand and pull ourselves to glory? Or shall we lie in our own blood and allow the Spartans to slaughter us again? The choice is yours. I for one choose death over this embarrassing domination.