“They have discovered that the length of time we have now been in commission has rotted our ships and wasted our crews, and that with the completeness of our crews and the soundness of the pristine efficiency of our navy has departed. For it is impossible for us to haul our ships ashore and dry them out because the enemy's vessels being as many or more than our own, we are constantly anticipating an attack.”

— Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.12-[3]-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

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Thucydides 76

Greek historian and Athenian general

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