All those who come before you on this platform are accustomed to assert that the
 subjects upon which they are themselves about to advise you are most important and most
 worthy of serious consideration by the state. Nevertheless, if it was ever
 appropriate to preface the discussion of any other subject with such words, it seems to me
 fitting also to begin with them in speaking upon the subject now before us.

For we are assembled here to deliberate about War and Peace, which exercise the greatest
 power over the life of man, and regarding which those who are correctly advised must of
 necessity fare better than the rest of the world. Such, then, is the magnitude of the
 question which we have come together to decide.

I observe, however, that you do not hear with equal favor the speakers who address you,
 but that, while you give your attention to some, in the case of others you do not even
 suffer their voice to be heard. And it is not
 surprising that you do this; for in the past you have formed the habit of driving all the
 orators from the platform except
 those who support your desires.

Wherefore one may justly take you to task because, while you know well that many great
 houses have been ruined by
 flatterers and while in
 your private affairs you abhor those who practice this art, in your public affairs you are
 not so minded towards them; on the contrary, while you denounce those who welcome and
 enjoy the society of such men, you yourselves make it manifest that you place greater
 confidence in them than in the rest of your fellow citizens.

Indeed, you have caused the orators to practice and study, not what will be advantageous
 to the state, but how they may discourse in a manner pleasing to you. And it is to this
 kind of discourse that the majority of them have resorted also at the present time, since
 it has become plain to all that you will be better pleased with those who summon you to
 war than with those who counsel peace;

for the former put into our minds the expectation both of regaining our possessions in
 the several states and of recovering the power which we formerly enjoyed, while the latter hold
 forth no such hope, insisting rather that we must have peace and not crave great
 possessions contrary to justice, but be
 content with those we have —and that for the great majority of mankind is
 of all things the most difficult.

For we are so dependent on our hopes and so insatiate in seizing what seems to be our
 advantage that not even those who possess the greatest fortunes are willing to rest
 satisfied with them but are always grasping after more and so risking the loss of what
 they have. Wherefore we may well be anxious lest on the present occasion also we may be
 subject to this madness.

For some of us appear to me to be over zealously bent on war, as though having heard, not
 from haphazard counsellors, but from the gods, that we are destined to succeed in all our
 campaigns and to prevail easily over our foes. But people of intelligence, when dealing
 with matters about which they have knowledge, ought not to take counsel—for this is
 superfluous—but to act as men who are already resolved what to do, whereas, in dealing
 with matters about which they take counsel, they ought not to think that they have exact
 knowledge of what the result will be, but to be minded towards these contingencies as men
 who indeed exercise their best judgement, but are not sure what the future may hold in
 store.

You, however, do neither the one thing nor the other, but are in the utmost confusion of
 mind. For you have come together as if it were your business to select the best course
 from all that are proposed; nevertheless, as though you had clear knowledge of what must
 be done, you are not willing to listen to any except those who speak for your pleasure.

And yet, if you really desired to find out what is advantageous to the state, you ought
 to give your attention more to those who oppose your views than to those who seek to
 gratify you, knowing well that of the orators who come before you here, those who say what
 you desire are able to delude you easily—since what is spoken to win favor clouds your
 vision of what is best—whereas those who advise you without regard to your pleasure can
 affect you in no such way,

since they could not convert you to their way of thinking until they have first made
 clear what is for your advantage. But, apart from these considerations, how can men wisely
 pass judgement on the past or take counsel for the future unless they examine and compare
 the arguments of opposing speakers, themselves giving an unbiased hearing to both sides?

But I marvel that the older men no longer recall and that the younger have not been told
 by anyone that the orators who exhort us to cling fast to peace have never caused us to
 suffer any misfortune whatsoever, whereas those who lightly espouse war have already
 plunged us into many great disasters. However, we have no memory for these facts but are
 always ready, without in the least advancing our own welfare, to man triremes, to levy
 war-taxes, and to lend aid to the campaigns of others or wage war against them, as chance
 may determine, as if imperilling the interests, not of our own, but of a foreign state.

And the cause of this condition of affairs is that, although you ought to be as much
 concerned about the business of the commonwealth as about your own, you do not feel the
 same interest in the one as in the other; on the contrary, whenever you take counsel
 regarding your private business you seek out as counsellors men who are your superiors in
 intelligence, but whenever you deliberate on the business of the state you distrust and
 dislike men of that character and cultivate, instead, the most depraved of
 the orators who come before you on this platform; and you prefer as being better friends
 of the people those who are drunk to those who are sober, those who are witless to
 those who are wise, and those who dole out the public money to those
 who perform public services at their own expense. So that we may well marvel that
 anyone can expect a state which employs such counsellors to advance to better things.

But I know that it is hazardous to oppose your views 
 and that, although this is a free government, there exists no ‘freedom of speech’ except that which is enjoyed in this
 Assembly by the most reckless orators, who care nothing for your welfare, and in the
 theater by the comic poets. And,
 what is most outrageous of all, you show greater favor to those who publish the failings
 of Athens to the rest of the Hellenes than you
 show even to those who benefit the city, while you are as ill-disposed to those who rebuke
 and admonish you as you are to men who work injury to the state.

Nevertheless, in spite of these conditions, I shall not desist from what I had in mind
 to say. For I have come before you, not to seek your favor nor to solicit your votes, but
 to make known the views I hold, first, regarding the proposals which have been put before
 you by the Prytaneis, and, second, regarding the
 other interests of the state; for no good will come of the resolutions which have now been
 made regarding the peace unless we are well advised also with regard to what remains to be done.

I maintain, then, that we should make peace, not only with the Chians, the Rhodians, the
 Byzantines and the Coans, but with all mankind, and that we should adopt, not the
 covenants of peace which certain parties have recently drawn up, but
 those which we have entered into with the king of Persia and with the Lacedaemonians, which ordain that the
 Hellenes be independent, that the alien garrisons be removed from the several states, and
 that each people retain its own territory. For we shall not find terms of peace more just
 than these nor more expedient for our city.

But if I leave off speaking at this point, I know that I shall appear to put Athens at a disadvantage, if, that is to say, the
 Thebans are to retain possession of Thespiae and
 Plataea and the other cities which they have seized contrary to their oaths, while we
 are to retire, under no compulsion to do so, from the territory which we now hold. But if
 you will only listen to me and give me your attention to the end, I believe that you will
 all impute extreme folly and madness to those who think that injustice is advantageous and
 who would hold in subjection by force the cities of others, failing to reckon with the
 disasters which result from such a policy.

On this point indeed I shall attempt to instruct you throughout my entire speech. But
 first let us discuss the question of peace and consider what we should desire for
 ourselves at the present juncture. For if we define this clearly and intelligently, we
 shall take better counsel in the light of this principle regarding our other
 interests as
 well.

Let me ask, then, whether we should be satisfied if we could dwell in our city secure
 from danger, if we could be provided more abundantly with the necessities of life, if we
 could be of one mind amongst ourselves, and if we could enjoy the high esteem of the
 Hellenes. I, for my part, hold that, with these blessings assured us, Athens would be completely happy. Now it is the
 war which has robbed us of all the
 good things which I have mentioned; for it has made us poorer; it has compelled many of us to endure perils; it has given us a
 bad name among the Hellenes; and it has in every way overwhelmed us with misfortune.

But if we make peace and demean ourselves as our common covenants command us to do, then we shall dwell in
 our city in great security, delivered from wars and perils and the turmoil in which we are
 now involved amongst ourselves, and we shall advance day by day in prosperity, relieved of
 paying war-taxes, of fitting out triremes, and of discharging the other burdens 
 which are imposed by war, without fear cultivating our lands and sailing the seas and
 engaging in those other occupations which now, because of the war, have entirely come to
 an end.

Nay, we shall see our city enjoying twice the revenues which she now receives, and thronged with
 merchants and foreigners and resident aliens, by whom she is
 now deserted. And, what is most important of all, we shall have all mankind as our
 allies—allies who will not have been forced, but rather persuaded, to join with us, who
 will not welcome our friendship because of our power when we are secure only to abandon us
 when we are in peril, but who will be disposed towards us as those should be who are in very
 truth allies and friends.

Furthermore, what we are now unable to obtain through war and great outlay of money we
 shall readily secure for ourselves through peaceful embassies. For do not think that
 Cersobleptes will wage war with us over the Chersonese , or Philip over Amphipolis , when they see that we do not covet any of the
 possessions of other peoples. It is true that as things are now they have good reason to
 be afraid to make Athens a near neighbor to
 their dominions;

for they see that we are not content with what we have but are always reaching out for
 more. If, however, we change our ways and gain a better reputation, they will not only
 withdraw from our territory but will give us besides territory of their own. For it will
 be to their advantage to cherish and support the power of Athens and so be secure in the possession of their own kingdoms.

And, mark you, it will be possible for us to cut off from the region of Thrace enough land so that we shall not only have
 abundance ourselves but shall also be able to furnish adequate means of subsistence to
 those of the Hellenes who are in need and, because of their poverty, are now wandering
 from place to place. For
 where Athenodorus and Callistratus, the one a private, the other an exile, have been able to found cities,
 surely we could gain possession of many such places if we so desired. And those who claim
 the right to stand at the head of the Hellenes ought to become leaders of such enterprises
 much rather than of war and of hireling armies, which at the present time are the objects
 of our ambition.

Now as to the promises held out by the ambassadors, what I have said is enough, although one
 might perhaps add many things to what I have said. But I think we should not go forth from
 this assembly, having merely adopted resolutions in favor of the peace, without also
 taking counsel how we shall keep it, and not do what we are in the habit of doing—namely,
 getting ourselves involved again in the same disorders after a short interval of time —and how we
 shall devise, not merely a postponement, but some means of permanent deliverance from our
 present ills.

But no such thing can come to pass until you are persuaded that tranquillity is more
 advantageous and more profitable than meddlesomeness, justice than injustice, and attention to one's own affairs than
 covetousness of the possessions of others. This is a theme on which none of the orators
 has ever made bold to address you. I, however, shall devote most of my discourse to this
 very subject. For I observe that happiness is to be found in these ways of life and not in
 those which we now follow.

But anyone who attempts to discourse on a subject out of the common and who desires to
 bring about a change in your opinions must needs touch upon many matters and speak
 somewhat at length, now reminding, now rebuking, now commending, and again counselling
 you. For hardly with all these aids can you be led to a better way of thinking.

For the matter stands thus. It seems to me that, while all men crave their advantage and
 desire to be better off than the rest, they do not all know the kind of conduct which
 leads to this end but differ from each other in judgement, some possessing a judgement
 which is sound and capable of hitting the right course of action, others one which
 completely misses their true advantage.

And this is the very thing which has happened to our city; for we think that, if we sail
 the sea with many triremes and compel the various states to pay contributions and send representatives to Athens , we
 have accomplished something to the purpose. But in fact, we have been completely misled as
 to the truth; for of the hopes which we cherished not one has been fulfilled; on the
 contrary, we have reaped from them hatreds and wars and great expense. And this was to be
 expected;

for in former times as the result of such meddlesomeness we were placed in the utmost
 peril, while as the result
 of keeping our city in the path of justice and of giving aid to the oppressed and of not
 coveting the possessions of others we were given the hegemony by the willing consent of
 the Hellenes —considerations which now and for a long time past, without reason
 and with utter recklessness, we have treated with contempt.

For some have gone to such an extreme of folly as to hold the view that, while injustice
 is reprehensible, it is, nevertheless, profitable and advantageous in our lives day by
 day, and that, while justice is estimable, it is for all that disadvantageous and more
 capable of benefiting others than of helping those who practise it.

They fail to see that nothing in the world can contribute so powerfully to material gain,
 to good repute, to right action, in a word, to happiness, as virtue and the qualities of
 virtue. For it is by the good qualities which we have
 in our souls that we acquire also the other advantages of which we stand in need. So that those who have no care for their own state of mind
 are unwittingly disparaging the means of attaining at the same time to greater wisdom and
 to greater well-being.

But I marvel if anyone thinks that those who practise piety and justice remain constant
 and steadfast in these virtues because they expect to be worse off than the wicked and not
 because they consider that both among gods and among men they will have the advantage over
 others. I, for my part, am persuaded that they and they alone gain advantage in the true
 sense, while the others gain advantage only in the baser sense of that term.

For I observe that those who prefer the way of injustice, thinking it the greatest good
 fortune to seize something that belongs to others, are in like case with animals which are
 lured by a bait, at the first deriving pleasure from what they seize, but the moment after
 finding themselves in desperate straits, while those who live a life of piety and justice
 pass their days in security for the present and have sweeter hopes for all eternity.

But if this is not wont to happen in all cases, nevertheless it does, for the most part,
 come out in this way. And it behoves intelligent men, since they cannot see clearly what
 will always be to their advantage, to show to the world that they prefer that which is
 generally beneficial. On the other hand, they are of all men most afflicted with unreason
 who concede that justice is a way of life more noble and more pleasing to the gods than
 injustice but at the same time believe that those who follow it will live in worse case
 than those who have chosen the way of evil.

I could wish that, even as to praise virtue is a facile theme, so it were easy to
 persuade bearers to practice it. But as things are I am afraid that I may be expressing
 such sentiments to no purpose. For we have been depraved for a long time by men whose only
 ability is to cheat and delude—men who have held the people in such contempt that whenever
 they wish to bring about a state of war with any city, these very men who are paid for what they say have the audacity to tell us that we
 should follow the example of our ancestors and not allow ourselves to be made a
 laughing-stock nor permit those Hellenes to sail the sea who are unwilling to pay us their
 contributions.

Now I should be glad if they would inform me what ancestors they would have us imitate.
 Do they mean those who lived at the time of the Persian Wars or those who governed the city before the Decelean War ? If they mean the latter then they
 are simply advising us to run the risk once again of being enslaved ;

but if they mean those who at Marathon conquered the barbarians, then they are of all men
 the most brazen, if, that is to say, they praise those who governed Athens at that time and in the same breath would
 persuade us to act in a manner contrary to theirs and to commit blunders so gross that I
 am at a loss what I should do—whether I should speak the truth as on all other occasions
 or be silent out of fear of making myself odious to you. For while it seems to me the
 better course to discuss your blunders, I observe that you are more resentful towards
 those who take you to task than towards those who are the authors of your misfortunes.

Nevertheless I should be ashamed if I showed that I am more concerned about my own
 reputation than about the public safety. It is, therefore, my duty and the duty of all who
 care about the welfare of the state to choose, not those discourses which are agreeable to
 you, but those which are profitable for you to hear. And you, for your part, ought to
 realize, in the first place, that while many treatments of all kinds have been discovered
 by physicians for the ills of our bodies, there exists no remedy for souls which are
 ignorant of the truth and filled with base desires other than the kind of discourse which
 boldly rebukes the sins which they commit,

and, in the second place, that it is absurd to submit to the cauteries and cuttings of
 physicians in order that we may be relieved of greater pains and yet refuse to hear
 discourses before knowing clearly whether or not they have the power to benefit their
 hearers.

I have said these things at the outset because in the rest of my discourse I am going to
 speak without reserve and with complete frankness. For suppose that a stranger from
 another part of the world were to come to Athens , having had no time to be tainted with our depravity, but brought
 suddenly face to face with what goes on here, would he not think that we are mad and
 bereft of our senses, seeing that we plume ourselves upon the deeds of our ancestors and
 think fit to eulogize our city by dwelling upon the achievements of their time and yet act
 in no respect like them but do the very opposite?

For while they waged war without ceasing in behalf of the Hellenes against the
 barbarians, we removed from their homes those who derive their livelihood from Asia and
 led them against the Hellenes; and while
 they liberated the cities of Hellas and lent
 them their aid and so were adjudged worthy of the hegemony, we seek to enslave these
 cities and
 pursue a policy the very opposite of theirs and then feel aggrieved that we are not held
 in like honor with them—

we who fall so far short of those who lived in those days both in our deeds and in our
 thoughts that, whereas they brought themselves to abandon their country for the
 sake of saving the other Hellenes and fought and conquered the barbarians both on the land
 and on the sea, we do not see fit to run any
 risk even for our own advantage;

on the contrary, although we seek to rule over all men, we are not willing to take the
 field ourselves, 
 and although we undertake to wage war upon, one might almost say, the whole world, we do not train ourselves for war but employ instead vagabonds,
 deserters, and fugitives who have thronged together here in consequence of other
 misdemeanors, who, whenever others offer them
 higher pay, will follow their leadership against us.

But, for all that, we are so enamored of these mercenaries that while we would not
 willingly assume the responsibility for the acts of our own children if they offended
 against anyone, yet for the brigandage, the violence, and the lawlessness of these
 men, the blame for which is bound to be laid at our door, not only do we feel
 no regret, but we actually rejoice whenever we hear that they have perpetrated any such
 atrocity.

And we have reached such a degree of imbecility that, although we are ourselves in need
 of the necessities of daily existence, we have undertaken to support mercenary troops and
 we do violence to our own allies and extort money from them in order to provide pay for
 the common enemies of all mankind.

And so far are we inferior to our ancestors, both those who enjoyed the esteem of the
 Hellenes and those who incurred their hatred, that whereas they, when they
 resolved to wage war against any state, deemed it their duty, notwithstanding that the
 Acropolis was stored with silver and gold, 
 to face danger in their own persons in support of their resolutions, we, on the other
 hand, not withstanding that we are in such extreme poverty and are so many in number,
 employ, as does the great King, mercenary armies!

In those days, when they manned their triremes, they put on board crews of foreigners and
 slaves but sent out citizens to fight under heavy arms. Now, however, we use mercenaries
 as heavy-armed troops but compel citizens to row the ships, with the result that when they
 land in hostile territory these men, who claim the right to rule over the Hellenes,
 disembark with their cushions under their arms, while men who are of the character which I have just
 described take the field with shield and spear!

However, if one could see that the domestic policy of Athens was well managed he might be of good cheer as to our other affairs.
 But is it not about this very thing that he would feel most aggrieved? For we assert that
 we are sprung from our very soil and that our city was founded before all others, but
 although we ought to be an example to all the world of good and orderly government, we
 manage our state in a worse manner and with more disorder than those who are just founding
 their cities.

We glory and take great pride in being better born than the rest but we are readier to
 share this noble birth-right with any who desire it than are the Triballians or the Leucanians to share their ignoble origin. We pass a multitude of laws, but we
 care so little about them (for if I give you a single instance you will be able to judge
 of the others as well) that, although we have prescribed the penalty of death for anyone
 who is convicted of bribery, we elect men who are most flagrantly guilty of this crime as
 our generals and we pick out the man who has been
 able to deprave the greatest number of our citizens and place him in charge of the most
 important affairs.

We are concerned about our polity no less than about the safety of the whole state and we
 know that our democracy flourishes and endures in times of peace and security while in
 times of war it has twice already been overthrown, but we are hostile to those who desire peace as if
 suspecting them of favoring oligarchy, while we are friendly to those who
 advocate war as if assured of their devotion to democracy.

We are versed beyond all others in discourse and in the conduct of affairs, but we are so
 devoid of reason that we do not hold the same views about the same question on the same
 day; on the contrary, the things which we condemn before we enter the assembly are the
 very things which we vote for when we are in session, and again a little later when we
 depart to our homes we disapprove of the things which we resolved upon here. We pretend
 that we are the wisest of the Hellenes, but we employ the kind of advisers whom no one
 could fail to despise, and we place these very same men in control of all our public
 interests to whom no one would entrust a single one of his private affairs.

But, what is most reprehensible of all, we regard those whom all would acknowledge to be
 the most depraved of our citizens as the most trustworthy guardians of our
 polity; and we judge the character of our alien residents by the kind of patrons they select to represent them, but do not expect that we
 shall be judged by the character of those who represent us at the head of the state.

So far are we different from our ancestors that whereas they chose the same men to
 preside over the city and to be generals in the field, since they
 believed that one who could give the best counsel on this platform would best take counsel
 with himself when alone, we ourselves do the very opposite;

for the men whose counsels we follow in matters of the greatest importance—these we do
 not see fit to elect as our generals, as if distrusting their intelligence, but men whose
 counsel no one would seek either on his own business or on that of the state—these we send
 into the field with unlimited authority, as if expecting that they will be wiser abroad than at home and
 will find it easier to take counsel on questions pertaining to the Hellenes than on those
 which are proposed for consideration here.

I say these things, not with reference to all, but with reference to those only who are
 open to the charges which I have made. However, the remainder of the day would not suffice
 me if I should attempt to review all the errors which have crept into our conduct of
 affairs.

But someone among those who are hard hit by my strictures might take offense and demand
 of me, “How is it, if indeed we are so badly advised, that we are safe and hold a power
 which is inferior to that of no other city?” I, for my part, would reply to this question
 that we have in our adversaries men who are no more prudent than ourselves.

For example, if the Thebans, after the battle which they won over the
 Lacedaemonians, had contented themselves with liberating
 the Peloponnesus and making the other Hellenes
 independent and had thenceforth pursued peace, while we continued to make such
 blunders, then neither could this man have asked such a question nor could we ourselves
 have failed to realize how much better moderation is than meddlesomeness.

But now matters have taken such a turn that the Thebans are saving us and we them, and
 they are procuring allies for us and we for them. So that if we were sensible we should supply
 each other with money for our general assemblies; for the oftener we meet to deliberate
 the more do we promote the success of our rivals.

But those among us who are able to exercise even a modicum of reason ought not to rest
 our hopes of safety upon the blunders of our enemies but upon our own management of
 affairs and upon our own judgement. For the good fortune which results to us from their
 stupidity might perhaps cease or change to the opposite, whereas that which comes about
 because of our own efforts will be more certain and more enduring.

Now it is not difficult to reply to those who take us to task without reason. But if
 anyone among those who are more fair-minded were to confront me and object, while
 conceding that I speak the truth and am correct in condemning the things which are taking
 place, that we have a right to expect of those who seek to admonish us with friendly
 purpose that they should not only denounce what has been done

but should also counsel us what to abstain from and what to strive for in order to cease
 from this way of thinking and from making such blunders, his objection would place me at a
 loss, not for a true answer and one that would be profitable, but for one that would be
 acceptable to you. But since I have set out to speak openly I must not shrink from
 disclosing what I think on these matters also.

Well then, the qualities which we must possess as a foundation if we are to be happy and
 prosperous, namely, piety and moderation and justice and virtue in all its phases, I
 mentioned a moment ago. But as to the
 means by which we may most speedily be taught to attain to such a character, what I am
 going to say will probably seem repellent to you when you have heard it as well as far
 removed from the opinions held by the rest of the world.

For I, for my part, consider that we shall manage our city to better advantage and be
 ourselves better men and go forward in all our undertakings if we stop setting our hearts
 on the empire of the sea. For it is this which plunged us into our present state of
 disorder, which overthrew that democratic government under which our
 ancestors lived and were the happiest of the Hellenes, and which is the cause, one might
 almost say, of all the ills which we both suffer ourselves and inflict upon the rest of
 the Hellenes.

I know, however, that it is difficult for one who attempts to denounce that imperial
 power which all the world lusts after and has waged many wars to obtain to impress his
 hearers as saying anything which is not intolerable. Nevertheless, since you have endured
 the other things which I have said, which, although true, are offensive,

I beg you to be patient also with what I shall say upon this subject and not to impute to
 me the madness of having chosen to discourse to you on matters so contrary to the general
 opinion without having something true to say about them. Nay, I believe that I shall make
 it evident to all that we covet an empire which is neither just nor capable of being
 attained nor advantageous to ourselves.

Now that it is not just I can show you by lessons which I have learned from yourselves.
 For when the Lacedaemonians held this power, what eloquence did we not expend in denouncing
 their rule, contending that it was just for the Hellenes to enjoy independence?

What cities of repute did we not call upon to join the alliance which was formed in this cause? How many
 embassies did we not dispatch to the great King to convince him that it
 was neither just nor expedient for one state to dominate the Hellenes? Indeed we did not
 cease waging war and facing perils both by land and sea until the Lacedaemonians were
 willing to enter into the treaty which guaranteed our independence.

At that time, then, we recognized the principle that it is not just for the stronger to
 rule over the weaker, even as now we
 recognize it in the nature of the polity which has been established amongst ourselves. But
 that we could not, if we would, attain to this empire by conquest I think I shall quickly
 prove. For when, with the help of ten thousand talents, we were not able to retain it, how can we acquire it in our present
 state of poverty, especially since we are now addicted, not to the ways of life by which
 we gained it, but to those by which we lost it?

Furthermore, that it is not even for the advantage of the state to accept this empire, if
 it were offered to us, I think you will learn very quickly from what further I have to
 say. But first I want to say a word by way of leading up to this point, fearing that, on
 account of my many strictures, I may give the impression to some of you of having chosen
 to denounce our city.

If I were attempting to discourse in this manner before any others, I should naturally
 lay myself open to this charge. But now I am addressing myself to you, not with the wish
 that I may prejudice you in the eyes of others, but with the desire that I may cause you
 to make an end of such a policy and that Athens and the rest of the Hellenes may form a
 lasting peace.

But those who admonish and those who denounce cannot avoid using similar words, although
 their purposes are as opposite as they can be. You ought not, therefore, to have the same
 feeling towards all who use the same language but, while abhorring those who revile you to
 your harm as inimical to the state, you ought to commend those who admonish you for your
 good and to esteem them as the best of your fellow-citizens,

and him most of all, even among them, who is able to point out most vividly the evils of
 your practices and the disasters which result from them. For such a man can soonest bring
 you to abhor what you should abhor and to set your hearts on better things. These, then,
 are the things which I have to say in defense of my harshness both in the words which I
 have spoken and those which I am about to speak. I will now resume at the place where I
 left off.

For I was on the point of saying that you could best learn that it is not to your
 advantage to obtain the empire of the sea if you should consider what was the condition of
 Athens before she acquired this power and what after she obtained it. For if you will
 examine one condition in contrast with the other you will see how many evils this power
 has brought upon the city.

Now the polity as it was in the earlier time was as much better and stronger than that
 which obtained later as Aristides and Themistocles and Miltiades were better men than Hyperbolus and
 Cleophon and those who today harangue the people. And you will find that the
 people who then governed the state were not given over to slackness and poverty and empty
 hopes,

but were able to conquer in battle all who invaded their territory; that they were awarded the
 meed of valor in the wars which they fought for the sake of Hellas ; and that they were so trusted that most of the
 states of their own free will placed themselves under their leadership.

But, notwithstanding these advantages, in place of a polity which was admired by all men
 this power has led us on to a state of license which no one in the world could commend; in
 place of our habit of conquering those who took the field against us it has instilled into
 our citizens such ways that they have not the courage even to go out in front of the walls
 to meet the enemy;

and in place of the good will which was accorded us by our allies and of the good repute
 in which we were held by the rest of the Hellenes it brought us into such a degree of
 odium that Athens barely escaped being enslaved and would have suffered this fate had we
 not found the Lacedaemonians, who were at war with us from the first, more friendly than
 those who were formerly our allies —

not that we can have any just complaint against the latter for being obdurate towards us;
 for they were not aggressors but on the defensive, and came to have this feeling after
 suffering many grievous wrongs at our hands. For who could have brooked the insolence of
 our fathers? Gathering together from all Hellas 
 men who were the worst of idlers and men who had a part in every form of depravity and
 manning their triremes with them, they made themselves odious to the Hellenes, driving into exile the best
 of the citizens in the other states 
 and distributing their property among the most depraved of the Hellenes!

But if I were to make bold to go through in detail what took place in those times I
 might probably help you to be better advised regarding the present situation, but I should
 prejudice my own reputation; for you are wont to hate not so much those who are
 responsible for your mistakes as those who undertake to denounce them.

I fear, therefore, since you are of such a mind, that if I attempt to benefit you I may
 myself reap a poor reward. Nevertheless, I am not going to refrain entirely from saying
 the things which I had in mind but shall pass over the most severe and, mayhap, the most
 painful to you and recall to your minds only the facts by which you will recognize the
 folly of the men who at that time governed the city.

For so exactly did they gauge the actions by which
 human beings incur the worst odium that they passed a decree to divide the surplus of the
 funds derived from the tributes of the allies into talents and to bring it on the
 stage, when the theatre
 was full, at the festival of Dionysus ; and not only was this done but at the same time
 they led in upon the stage the sons of those who had lost their lives in the war, seeking thus to display to our allies, on the one hand, the value of their own
 property which was brought in by hirelings, and to the rest of the Hellenes,
 on the other, the multitude of the fatherless and the misfortunes which result from this
 policy of aggression.

And in doing this they themselves counted the city happy, while many of the simple-minded
 deemed it blessed, taking no thought whatsoever for future consequences but admiring and
 envying the wealth which flowed into the city unjustly and which was soon to destroy also
 that which justly belonged to it.

For they reached such a degree of neglect of their own possessions and of covetousness of
 the possessions of other states that when the Lacedaemonians had invaded our territory and
 the fortifications at Decelea had already been built, they manned triremes to
 send to Sicily and were not ashamed to permit their own country to be cut off and
 plundered by the enemy while dispatching an expedition against a people who
 had never in any respect offended against us.

Nay, they arrived at such a pitch of folly that at a time when they were not masters of
 their own suburbs they expected to extend
 their power over Italy and Sicily and Carthage . And so far did they outdo all mankind in recklessness that whereas
 misfortunes chasten others and render them more prudent our fathers learned no lessons
 even from this discipline.

And yet they were involved in more and greater disasters in the time of the empire than
 have ever befallen Athens in all the rest of her history. Two hundred ships which set sail
 for Egypt perished with their crews, and a hundred and fifty off the island of Cyprus ; in the Decelean War they lost ten thousand
 heavy armed troops of their own and of their allies, and in Sicily forty thousand men and two hundred and forty ships, and,
 finally, in the Hellespont two hundred
 ships.

But of the ships which were lost in fleets of ten or five or more and of the men who were
 slain in armies of a thousand or two thousand who could tell the tale? In a word, it was
 at that time a matter of regular routine to hold public funerals every year, which
 many both of our neighbors and of the other Hellenes used to attend, not to grieve with us
 for the dead, but to rejoice together at our misfortunes.

And at last, before they knew it, they had filled the public burial-grounds with the bodies of their fellow citizens
 and the registers of the phratries and of the state with the names of those who had no claim upon the city.
 And you may judge of the multitude of the slain from this fact: The families of the most
 illustrious Athenians and our greatest houses, which survived the civil conflicts under
 the tyrants and
 the Persian Wars as well, have been, you will find, entirely wiped out under this
 empire upon which we set our hearts.

So that if one desired to go into the question of what befell the rest of our citizens,
 judging by this instance, it would be seen that we have been changed, one might almost
 say, into a new people. And yet we must not count that state happy which without
 discrimination recruits from all parts of the world a large number of citizens but rather
 that state which more than all others preserves the stock of those who in the beginning
 founded it. And we ought not to emulate those who hold despotic power nor those who have
 gained a dominion which is greater than is just but rather those who, while worthy of the
 highest honors, are yet content with the honors which are tendered them by a free people.

For no man nor any state could obtain a position more excellent than this or more secure
 or of greater worth. And it was because they acquired just this position that our
 ancestors in the time of the Persian Wars did not live in the manner of freebooters, now
 having more than enough for their needs, again reduced to a state of famine and siege and extreme
 misfortune ; on the contrary, while they lived neither in want nor in
 surfeit of the means of subsistence day by day, they prided themselves on the justice of
 their polity and on their own virtues, and passed their lives more pleasantly than the
 rest of the world.

But, heedless of these lessons, those who came after them desired, not to rule but to
 dominate —words which are thought to have the same meaning, although between
 them there is the utmost difference. For it is the duty of those who rule to make their
 welfare, whereas it is a habit of those who dominate to provide pleasures
 for themselves through the labors and hardships of others. But it is in the nature of
 things that those who attempt a despot's course must encounter the disasters which befall
 despotic power and be
 afflicted by the very things which they inflict upon others. And it is just this which has
 happened in the case of Athens;

for in place of holding the citadels of other states, her people saw the day when the
 enemy was in possession of the Acropolis ; in place of dragging
 children from their mothers and fathers and taking them as hostages, many of her citizens, living in a state of siege, were compelled to
 educate and support their children with less than was their due; and in place of farming
 the lands of other states, for many years they were denied the opportunity of even
 setting eyes upon their own fields.

If, therefore, anyone were to ask us whether we should choose to see Athens in such
 distress as the price of having ruled so long a time, who could answer yes, except some
 utterly abandoned wretch who cared not for sacred matters nor for parents nor for children
 nor for any other thing save for the term of his own existence? We, however, ought not to
 emulate the judgement of such men but rather that of those who exercise great forethought
 and are no less jealous for the reputation of the state than for their own—men who prefer
 a moderate competence with justice to great wealth unjustly gained.

For our ancestors, proving themselves to be men of this character, handed on the city
 to their descendants in a most prosperous condition and left behind them an imperishable
 memorial of their virtue. And from this we may easily learn a double lesson: that our soil
 is able to rear better men than the rest of the world and that what we call empire, though in
 reality it is misfortune, is of a nature to deprave all who have to do with it.

We have a most convincing proof of this. For imperialism worked the ruin not only of
 Athens but of the city of the Lacedaemonians also, so that those who are in the habit of
 praising the virtues of Sparta cannot
 argue that we managed our affairs badly because of our democratic government whereas if
 the Lacedaemonians had taken over the empire the results would have been happy both for
 the rest of the Hellenes and for themselves. For this power revealed its nature much more
 quickly in their case. Indeed it
 brought it to pass that a polity which over a period of seven hundred years had never, so far as
 we know, been disturbed by perils or calamities was shaken and all but destroyed in a
 short space of time.

For in place of the ways of life established among them it filled the citizens with
 injustice, indolence, lawlessness and avarice and the commonwealth with contempt for its
 allies, covetousness of the possessions of other states, and indifference to its oaths and
 covenants. In fact they went so far beyond our ancestors in their crimes against the
 Hellenes that in addition to the evils which already afflicted the several states they
 stirred up in them slaughter and strife, in consequence of which their citizens
 will cherish for each other a hatred unquenchable.

And they became so addicted to war and the perils of war that, whereas in times past they
 had been more cautious in this regard than the rest of the world, they did
 not refrain from attacking even their own allies and their own benefactors; on the
 contrary, although the great King had furnished them with more than five thousand
 talents for the war against us, and although the Chians had supported them more
 zealously than any of their other allies by means of their fleet

and the Thebans had
 contributed a great number of troops to their land forces, the Lacedaemonians no sooner
 gained the supremacy than they straightway plotted against the Thebans, dispatched Clearchus with an army against the King, and in the case of the Chians drove
 into exile the foremost of their citizens and launched their battle-ships
 from their docks and made off with their whole navy.

However, they were not satisfied with perpetrating these crimes, but about the same time
 were ravaging the Asiatic coast, committing outrages against the islands, subverting the free governments in Italy and Sicily ,
 setting up despotisms in their stead, overrunning the
 Peloponnesus and filling it with seditions and
 wars. For, tell me, against which of the cities of Hellas did they fail to take the field? Which of them did they fail to
 wrong?

Did they not rob the Eleans of part of their territory, did they not lay waste the
 land of the Corinthians, did they not disperse the Mantineans from their
 homes, did they not reduce the
 Phliasians by siege, and did
 they not invade the country of the Argives, never ceasing from their
 depredations upon the rest of the world and so bringing upon themselves the disaster at
 Leuctra? Some maintain that this disaster was the cause of the misfortunes which overtook
 Sparta , but they do not speak the truth. For
 it was not because of this that they incurred the hatred of their allies; it was because
 of their insolence in the time preceding that they were defeated in this battle and fell
 into peril of losing their own city.

We must not attribute the cause to any subsequent misfortunes but to their crimes in the
 beginning, as the result of which they were brought to such a disastrous end. So that
 anyone would be much more in accord with the truth if he should assert that they first
 became subject to the dominion of their present ills at the moment when they attempted to
 seize the dominion of the sea, since they were seeking to acquire a power which was in no
 wise like that which they had before possessed.

For because of their supremacy on land and of their stern discipline and of the self
 control which was cultivated under it, they readily obtained command of the sea, whereas
 because of the arrogance which was bred in them by that power they speedily lost the
 supremacy both on land and sea. For they no longer kept the laws which they had inherited
 from their ancestors nor remained faithful to the ways which they had followed in times
 past,

but conceived that they were licensed to do whatever they pleased and so were plunged
 into great confusion. For they did not know that this licence which all the world aspires
 to attain is a difficult thing to manage, that it turns the heads of those who are
 enamored by it, and that it is in its nature like courtesans, who lure their victims to
 love but destroy those who indulge this passion.

And yet it has been shown clearly that it has this effect; for anyone can see that those
 who have been in the strongest position to do whatever they pleased have been involved in
 the greatest disasters, ourselves and the Lacedaemonians first of all. For when these
 states, which in time past had governed themselves with the utmost sobriety and enjoyed
 the highest esteem, attained to this license and seized the empire, they differed
 in no respect from each other, but, as is natural in the case of those who have been
 depraved by the same passions and the same malady, they attempted the same deeds and
 indulged in similar crimes and, finally, fell into like disasters.

For we, being hated by our allies and standing in peril of being enslaved, were saved by
 the Lacedaemonians; and just so they, when
 all the rest wanted to destroy them, came to us for refuge and were saved through us. And yet how can we praise a dominion
 which subjects us to so miserable an end? How can we fail to abhor and shun a power which
 has incited these two cities both to do and to suffer many abominable things?

But, after all, we should not be surprised that in the past all men have failed to see
 that this power is the cause of so many ills to those who hold it, nor should we wonder
 that it has been the bone of contention between us and the Lacedaemonians. For you will
 find that the great majority of mankind go astray in choosing a course of action and,
 being possessed of more desires for things evil than for things good, take counsel more in
 the interest of their foes than of themselves. You can observe this in matters of the
 greatest importance.

For when has it ever happened otherwise? Did we not choose to pursue a policy in
 consequence of which the Lacedaemonians became masters of the Hellenes? Did not they, in
 their turn, manage their supremacy so badly that not many years later we again got the
 upper hand and became the arbiters of their safety?

Did not the meddlesomeness of the partizans of Athens cause the various states to become
 partisans of Sparta , and did not the insolence
 of the partisans of Sparta force these same
 states to become partisans of Athens? Did not the people themselves, because of the
 depravity of the popular orators, desire the oligarchy which was established under the
 Four Hundred? And have not we, all of us, because of the madness of the Thirty, become greater enthusiasts for democracy than those who
 occupied Phyle ?

Indeed in matters of lesser importance and in our everyday life, one could show that the
 majority take pleasure in the foods and habits which injure both the body and the soul but
 consider laborious and irksome those from which both sides of our nature would benefit,
 and that those men are looked upon as austere who remain steadfast in habits which are
 beneficial.

Since, therefore, in the circumstances in which they live every day and about which they
 are more directly concerned, men show that they prefer the worse to the better course, how
 can we be surprised if they lack insight regarding the empire of the sea and make war upon
 each other to possess a power regarding which they have never reflected in their lives?

Look at the one-man-rule which is established in various states and observe how many
 there are who aspire to it and are ready to undergo anything whatsoever to obtain it. And
 yet what that is dire and difficult is not its portion? Is it not true that when men obtain unlimited power they find
 themselves at once in the coil of so many troubles

that they are compelled to make war upon all their citizens, to hate those from whom they
 have suffered no wrong whatsoever, to suspect their own friends and daily companions, to
 entrust the safety of their persons to hirelings whom they have never even seen, to fear
 no less those who guard their lives than those who plot against them, and to be so
 suspicious towards all men as not to feel secure even in the company of their nearest
 kin?

And naturally so; for they know well that those who held despotic power before them have
 been put out of the way, some by their parents, some by their
 sons, some by their
 brothers, and some by their wives and, furthermore, that the lineage of these rulers has been blotted out
 from the sight of men. Nevertheless they willingly submit themselves to such a
 multitude of calamities. And when men who are of the
 foremost rank and of the greatest reputation are enamored of so many evils, is it any
 wonder that the rest of the world covets other evils of the same kind?

But I do not fail to realize that while you accept readily what I say about the rule of
 despots, yet you hear with intolerance what I say about the empire of the sea. For you
 have fallen into a most shameful and careless way of thinking, since what you see clearly
 in the case of others, this you are blind to in your own case. And yet it is not the least
 important sign of whether men are possessed of intelligence if they are seen to recognize
 the same course of conduct in all cases that are comparable.

But you have never given this a thought; on the contrary, while you consider the power of
 a despot to be harsh and harmful not only to others but to those who hold it, you look
 upon the empire of the sea as the greatest good in the world, when in fact it differs
 neither in what it does nor in what it suffers from one-man-rule. And you think that the
 affairs of the Thebans are in a bad way because they oppress their neighbors, but, although you yourselves are treating your allies no
 better than the Thebans treat the Boeotians, you believe that your own actions leave
 nothing to be desired.

If, then, you heed my advice you will stop taking counsel in your utterly haphazard
 fashion and give your attention to your own and the state's welfare; pondering and
 searching into these questions: What is it which caused these two states—Athens and
 Sparta I mean—to rise, each one of them,
 from obscure beginnings to be the first power in Hellas and then to fall, after they had attained a power second to none,
 into peril of being enslaved?

What are the reasons that the Thessalians, who inherited very great wealth and possess a
 very rich and abundant territory, 
 have been reduced to poverty, while the Megarians, who had small and insignificant
 resources to begin with and who possess neither land nor harbors nor mines but are compelled to farm mere
 rocks, own estates which are the greatest among the Hellenes?

Why is it that the Thessalians, with a cavalry of more than three thousand horse and
 light-armed troops beyond number, have their fortresses occupied
 from time to time by certain other states while the
 Megarians, with only a small force, govern their city as they see fit? And, again, why is
 it that the Thessalians are always at war with each other while the Megarians, who dwell
 between the Peloponnesians on the one hand and the Thebans and the Athenians on the other,
 are continually in a state of peace?

If you will go over these and similar questions in your minds, you will discover that
 arrogance and insolence have been the cause of our misfortunes while sobriety and self
 control have been the source of our blessings. But, while you commend
 sobriety in individual men and believe that those who practice it enjoy the most secure
 existence and are the best among your fellow citizens, you do not think it fit to make the
 state practice it.

And yet it behoves states much more than individuals to cultivate the virtues and to shun
 vices; for a man who is godless and depraved may die before paying the
 penalty for his sins, but states, since they are deathless, soon or late must submit to
 punishment at the hands both of men and of the gods.

These considerations you should bear in mind and not pay heed to those who gratify you
 for the moment, while caring nothing for the future, nor to those who profess to love the
 people, but are in fact the bane of the whole state; since in times past also when men of
 this character took over the supremacy of the rostrum, they led
 the city on to such a degree of folly that she suffered the fate which I described a
 moment ago.

And indeed what is most astonishing of all in your conduct is that you prefer as leaders
 of the people, not those who are of the same mind as the men who made Athens great, but those who say and do the same kind of
 things as the men who destroyed her power; and you do this albeit knowing full well that
 it is not alone in making the city prosperous that good leaders are superior to the base,

but that our democracy itself under the leadership of the former remained unshaken and
 unchanged for many years, 
 whereas under the guidance of these men it has already, within a short period of
 time, been twice overthrown, and that, furthermore, our people who were
 driven into exile under the despots and in the time of the Thirty were restored to the
 state, not through the efforts of the sycophants, but through those leaders who despised men of that character and were held
 in the highest respect for their integrity.

Nevertheless, in spite of the many things which remind us how the city fared under both
 kinds of leadership, we are so pleased with the depravity of our orators that, although we
 see that many of our other citizens have been stripped of their patrimony because of the
 war and of the disorders which these sycophants have caused, while the latter, from being
 penniless, have become rich, yet we are not aggrieved nor do we resent
 their prosperity

but remain patient with a condition of affairs wherein our city is reproached with doing
 violence to the Hellenes and extorting money from them, while these
 men reap the harvest, and wherein our people, who are told by the
 sycophants that they ought to rule over the rest of the world, are worse off than those
 who are slaves to oligarchy, while these men, who had no advantage to start with, have
 risen because of our folly from a mean to an enviable position.

And yet Pericles, who
 was the leader of the people before men of this stamp came into favor, taking over the
 state when it was less prudent than it had been before it obtained the supremacy, although
 it was still tolerably well governed, was not bent upon his own enrichment, but left an estate which was smaller than that which he received from
 his father, while he brought up into the Acropolis eight thousand talents, apart from the sacred treasures.

But these demagogues have shown themselves so different from him that they have the
 effrontery to say that because of the care they give to the commonwealth they are not able
 to give attention to their private interests, although in fact these “neglected” interests
 have advanced to a degree of affluence which they would never have even dreamed of praying
 to the gods that they might attain, whereas our people, for whom they pretend to care, are
 in such straits that not one of our citizens is able to live with pleasure or at ease; on
 the contrary, Athens is rife with lamentations.

For some are driven to rehearse and bewail amongst themselves their poverty and privation
 while others deplore the multitude of duties enjoined upon them by the state—the liturgies
 and all the nuisances connected with the symmories and with exchanges of property; for these
 are so annoying that those who have means find life more burdensome than those who are
 continually in want.

I marvel that you cannot see at once that no class is so inimical to the people as our
 depraved orators and demagogues. For, as if your other misfortunes were not enough, their
 chief desire is that you should be in want of your daily necessities, observing that those
 who are able to manage their affairs from their private incomes are on the side of the
 commonwealth and of our best counsellors,

whereas those who live off the law-courts and the assemblies and the doles derived from them are
 constrained by their need to be subservient to the sycophants and are deeply grateful for
 the impeachments and the indictments and the other sharp practices which
 are due to the sycophants.

Wherefore these men would be most happy to see all of our citizens reduced to the
 condition of helplessness in which they themselves are powerful. And the greatest proof
 of this is that they do not consider by what means they may provide a livelihood for those
 who are in need, but rather how they may reduce those who are thought to possess some
 wealth to the level of those who are in poverty.

What, then, is the way of escape from our present ills? I have already discussed most of
 the points which bear upon this question, not in sequence, but as each fell into its
 opportune place. But perhaps it will help you to hold them in memory if I attempt to bring
 together and review those which more than others press upon our attention.

The first way by which we can set right and improve the condition of our city is to
 select as our advisers on affairs of state the kind of men whose advice we should desire
 on our private affairs, and to stop thinking of the sycophants as friends of democracy and
 of the good men and true among us as friends of oligarchy, realizing that no man
 is by nature either the one or the other but that all men desire, in each case, to
 establish that form of government in which they are held in honor.

The second way is to be willing to treat our allies just as we would our friends and not
 to grant them independence in words, while in fact giving them over to our generals to do
 with as they please, and not to
 exercise our leadership as masters but as helpers, since we have learned the lesson that
 while we are stronger than any single state we are weaker than all Hellas .

And the third way is to consider that nothing is more important, save only to show
 reverence to the gods, than to have a good name among the Hellenes. For upon those who are
 so regarded they willingly confer both sovereign power and leadership.

If, then, you will abide by the advice which I have given you, and if, besides, you will
 prove yourselves warlike by training and preparing for war but peaceful by doing nothing
 contrary to justice, you will render not only this city but all the Hellenes
 happy and prosperous.

For no other of the states will dare to oppress them; on the contrary, they will hold
 back and studiously avoid aggression when they see the power of Athens on the alert and
 ready to go to the aid of the oppressed. But no matter what course the rest may take, our
 own position will be honorable and advantageous;

for if the foremost states resolve to abstain from acts of oppression, we shall have the
 credit for this blessing; but if, on the other hand, they attempt to oppress others, then
 all who fear them and suffer evil at their hands will come to us for refuge, with many
 prayers and supplications, offering us not only the hegemony but their own support.

So that we shall not lack for allies to help us to check the oppressors but shall find
 many ready and willing to join their forces to our own. For what city or what men will not
 be eager to share our friendship and our alliance when they see that the Athenians are at
 once the most just and the most powerful of peoples and are at the same time both willing
 and able to save the other states, while needing no help for themselves?

What a turn for the better should you expect the affairs of our city to take when we
 enjoy such good will from the rest of the Hellenes? What wealth will flow into Athens when
 through her all Hellas is made secure? And who
 among men will fail to praise those who will have been the authors of blessings so many
 and so great?

But I am not able because of my age to include in my speech all the things which I grasp in my thought, save
 that it is a noble enterprise for us, in the midst of the injustice and madness of the
 rest of the world, to be the first to adopt a sane policy and stand forth as the champions
 of the freedom of the Hellenes, to be acclaimed as their saviors, not their
 destroyers, and to become illustrious for our virtues and regain the good repute
 which our ancestors possessed.

But I have yet to touch upon the chief consideration of all—that upon which centers
 everything that I have said and in the light of which we should appraise the actions of
 the state. For if we really wish to clear away the prejudice in which we are held at the
 present time, we must cease from the wars which are waged to no purpose and so gain for
 our city the hegemony for all time; we must abhor all despotic rule and imperial power,
 reflecting upon the disasters which have sprung from them; and we must emulate and imitate
 the position held by the kings of Lacedaemon :

they, it is true, have less freedom than their private citizens to do wrong, yet are
 much more enviable than those who hold despotic power by force; for those who take the
 lives of despots are given the highest rewards by their fellow citizens, whereas those Spartans who are not
 ready to lay down their lives for their kings in battle are held in greater dishonor than men who desert their post and
 throw away their shields.

This, then, is the kind of leadership which is worth striving for. And this very position
 of honor which the kings of Lacedaemon have from
 their citizens we Athenians have it in our power to win from the Hellenes, if only they
 become convinced that our supremacy will be the instrument, not of their enslavement, but
 of their salvation.

My subject is not exhausted; there are many excellent things to be said upon it, but I
 am prompted by two considerations to stop speaking: the length of my discourse and the
 number of my years. But I urge and exhort those who are younger and more vigorous than I
 to speak and write the kind of discourses by which they will turn the greatest
 states—those which have been wont to oppress the rest—into the paths of virtue and
 justice, since when the affairs of Hellas are in
 a happy and prosperous condition, it follows that the state of learning and letters also
 is greatly improved.