The first thought,

第一种
the one that was most popular to begin with,was well,

最普遍的想法是
let's take the silver and divide it up equally among the Athenians.

把银矿开采出来平均分配给雅典民众
That in some sense the polis was

从某种意义上说
a kind of joint stock company

城邦就像一家股份公司
and when there was a nice dividend you

当有很不错的红利时
just dole it out to the investors.

就分发给投资者
Themistocles thought otherwise.

地米斯托克利却另有考虑
Themistocles was--it' evident--

显然地米斯托克利一直都知道
was constantly aware of the threat from Persia

来自于波斯的威胁
and of the importance of getting ready to fight the Persians,

以及对波斯备战的重要性
and he understood I think

我想