Realpolitik

There was now gathered in contention for Syracuse what was certainly the largest number of nations ever to converge on a single city, a number only exceeded by the full tally of those involved in this war for or against the cities of Athens and Sparta. Here follows a list of the various nationalities who were there on either side to attack or defend Sicily and took part in the war over Syracuse. They had come to share either in the conquest of the country or in its rescue, but their particular alignment was not determined by any justifying cause or kindred loyalty so much as by purely contingent factors of self-interest or compulsion. 

[ἔθνη γὰρ πλεῖστα δὴ ἐπὶ μίαν πόλιν ταύτην ξυνῆλθε, πλήν γε δὴ τοῦ ξύμπαντος λόγου τοῦ ἐν τῷδε τῷ πολέμῳ πρὸς τὴν Ἀθηναίων τε πόλιν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων.Τοσοίδε γὰρ ἑκάτεροι ἐπὶ Σικελίαν τε καὶ περὶ Σικελίας, τοῖς μὲν ξυγκτησόμενοι τὴν χώραν ἐλθόντες, τοῖς δὲ ξυνδιασώσοντες, ἐπὶ Συρακούσας ἐπολέμησαν, οὐ κατὰ δίκην τι μᾶλλον οὐδὲ κατὰ ξυγγένειαν μετ' ἀλλήλων στάντες, ἀλλ'ὡς ἑκάστοις τῆς ξυντυχίας ἢ κατὰ τὸ ξυμφέρον ἢ ἀνάγκῃ ἔσχεν.]

Tucídides, A Guerra do Peloponeso VII.56-7 

Oxford World's Classics, Oxford: 2009 (trad.: Martin Hammond)