Shannon Carroll
February 12, 2007
Fellow Athenians. I would like to bring before you the concerns I have for Athens and the measures I feel are necessary to promote the rebuilding of Athens to occur in a timely manner, as is needed. As our great athlete pointed out, the destroyed long walls are a dismal sight. We have voted on legislation to rectify this situation. The project of rebuilding the long walls has been appointed a superintendent and funding is being provided through the passed property tax and the contributions of the patriotic citizens of Athens.
I feel that Athens herself should be our primary concern. We have agreed to rebuild the long walls and thus beautify the city. We should not overwhelm ourselves. We cannot afford to support such projects as this and focus our attentions outside of Athens at the same time. In doing so, I feel that more funding will be needed and I fear that it will come in the form of even more taxation. We need to be careful lest we tax our citizens into poverty and thus ruin the economy. Fellow members of the assembly, in the past taxes have been the absolute last resort. Yet the other day in assembly, taxes were quickly suggested and passed. We must be cautious in such decisions.
But, I digress. My point, fellow citizens, is that we are in no position to even consider stretching our attentions and resources outside of Athens. We cannot afford any military campaigns or the frivolous rebuilding of ships or triremes. We are in a very critical and delicate situation right now. We must focus our efforts inward and fortify our city and build up our economy before we go on extraneous conquests and leave our city open and vulnerable to attackers.
Dear people, let me explain to you the dangers of the campaigns. As aforementioned, in the event of sending some of our soldiers on a campaign, our city would be left with very low defenses. Our long walls have not yet been completed. Would you have the Spartan come in and destroy what little progress we have made in the reconstruction of Athens? We would be left in an even greater state of disarray than before, not to mention the wasted funds on those things rebuilt and then destroyed again. We are also unable to raise enough resources to send an adequate campaign. In addition to the vulnerable city, we will be sending an unprepared fleet into battle and thus have a very good chance of being defeated, yet another waste of resources. Also, in the event that we are defeated on one of these campaigns, our efforts will not only set us back but also provoke those on which we moved. We cannot do anything to encourage such a thing. Any attack we suffer runs the risk of permanently maiming our already crippled city.
And so, fellow Athenians, I would like to make a proposal. I propose that we vote to abstain from forming any military campaigns or performing measures to support such a campaign (i.e. building triremes). Rather, we should concentrate our efforts internally. We should not abandon our military. This would be idiotic. We should focus only enough effort on the military to maintain a sufficient defense for Athens. In this manner, our limited resources will still be able to support what is most important which is rebuilding and beautifying the city of Athens.
February 12, 2007
Fellow Athenians. I would like to bring before you the concerns I have for Athens and the measures I feel are necessary to promote the rebuilding of Athens to occur in a timely manner, as is needed. As our great athlete pointed out, the destroyed long walls are a dismal sight. We have voted on legislation to rectify this situation. The project of rebuilding the long walls has been appointed a superintendent and funding is being provided through the passed property tax and the contributions of the patriotic citizens of Athens.
I feel that Athens herself should be our primary concern. We have agreed to rebuild the long walls and thus beautify the city. We should not overwhelm ourselves. We cannot afford to support such projects as this and focus our attentions outside of Athens at the same time. In doing so, I feel that more funding will be needed and I fear that it will come in the form of even more taxation. We need to be careful lest we tax our citizens into poverty and thus ruin the economy. Fellow members of the assembly, in the past taxes have been the absolute last resort. Yet the other day in assembly, taxes were quickly suggested and passed. We must be cautious in such decisions.
But, I digress. My point, fellow citizens, is that we are in no position to even consider stretching our attentions and resources outside of Athens. We cannot afford any military campaigns or the frivolous rebuilding of ships or triremes. We are in a very critical and delicate situation right now. We must focus our efforts inward and fortify our city and build up our economy before we go on extraneous conquests and leave our city open and vulnerable to attackers.
Dear people, let me explain to you the dangers of the campaigns. As aforementioned, in the event of sending some of our soldiers on a campaign, our city would be left with very low defenses. Our long walls have not yet been completed. Would you have the Spartan come in and destroy what little progress we have made in the reconstruction of Athens? We would be left in an even greater state of disarray than before, not to mention the wasted funds on those things rebuilt and then destroyed again. We are also unable to raise enough resources to send an adequate campaign. In addition to the vulnerable city, we will be sending an unprepared fleet into battle and thus have a very good chance of being defeated, yet another waste of resources. Also, in the event that we are defeated on one of these campaigns, our efforts will not only set us back but also provoke those on which we moved. We cannot do anything to encourage such a thing. Any attack we suffer runs the risk of permanently maiming our already crippled city.
And so, fellow Athenians, I would like to make a proposal. I propose that we vote to abstain from forming any military campaigns or performing measures to support such a campaign (i.e. building triremes). Rather, we should concentrate our efforts internally. We should not abandon our military. This would be idiotic. We should focus only enough effort on the military to maintain a sufficient defense for Athens. In this manner, our limited resources will still be able to support what is most important which is rebuilding and beautifying the city of Athens.
posted by Lucius Flavus (Shannon) | 7:37 PM
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