History of the Peloponnesian War

He therefore, seeing them irritated by their present circumstances, and doing every thing that he had himself expected them to do, called an assembly, (for he was still general,) wishing to cheer them, and by drawing off the irritation of their feelings to lead them to a calmer and more confident state of mind. So he came forward and spoke as follows:

"I had both expected the proofs of your anger against me, which have been exhibited, (for I am aware of the causes of it,) and have now convened an assembly for this purpose, that I may remind you [of what you have forgotten], and reprove you if in any respect you are wrong, either in being irritated against me or in succumbing to your misfortunes.

For I consider that a state which in its public capacity is successful confers more benefit on individuals, than one which is prosperous as regards its particular citizens, while collectively it comes to ruin.

For though a man is individually prosperous, yet if his country is ruined, he none the less shares in its destruction; whereas, if he is unfortunate in a country that is fortunate, he has a much better hope of escaping his dangers.

Since then a state is able to bear the misfortunes of individuals, while each individual is unable to bear hers, how can it fail to be the duty of all to support her, and not to act as you are now doing, who, being panic-stricken by your domestic afflictions, give up all thought of the public safety, and are blaming both me who advised you to go to war, and yourselves who joined in voting for it.

And yet I, with whom you are angry, am a man who deem myself second to none in at once knowing what measures are required, and explaining them to others; a lover too of my country, and superior to the influence of money.

For he who knows a thing that is right, but does not explain it with clearness is no better than if he had never had a conception of it; and he, gain, who has both these requisites, but is ill-affected toward his country, would not so well speak for her interest And even this qualification be added to the others, while he is influenced by regard for money, all of them together would be sacrificed for this one consideration.

So that if you were persuaded by me to go to war, because you thought that I possessed these qualities even in a moderate degree more than other men, I cannot now fairly be charged with injuring you, at any rate.

"For those indeed to go to war, who, while successful in other things, have had a choice in the matter allowed them, it is great folly. But if [in our case] it were necessary, either immediately to submit to our neighbours, if we made concessions, or to preserve our independence by running a great risk;

then he who shrank from the risk is more reprehensible than he who faced it. For my part then, I am the same that I ever was, and do not depart from my opinion; but you are changing, since it happens that you were persuaded [to go to war] while unscathed, but repent of it now you are suffering: and that my advice appears wrong through the weakness of your resolution; because pain is now in possession of each man's feeling, while the certainty of the benefit is as yet hidden from all: and a great reverse having befallen you, and that suddenly, your mind is too prostrated to persevere in your determinations.

For the spirit is enslaved by what is sudden and unlooked for, and most beyond our calculation; which has been your case, in addition to every thing else, more especially with regard to the plague.

Living, however, as you do in a great city, and brought up with habits corresponding to it, you ought to be willing to encounter the greatest misfortunes, and not to sully your reputation; (for men think it equally just to find fault with him who weakly falls short of his proper character, and to hate him who rashly grasps at that which does not belong to him;) and you ought to cease grieving for your private sufferings, and to devote yourselves to the safety of the commonwealth.

"But with regard to your trouble in the war, lest you should fear that it may prove great, and we may still be none the more successful, let those arguments suffice you, with which on many other occasions I have proved the error of your suspicions respecting it. At the same time, I will also lay before you the following advantage, which yourselves do not appear ever yet to have thought of as belonging to you, respecting the greatness of your empire, and which I never urged in my former speeches; nor would I even now, as it has rather too boastful an air, if I did not see you unreasonably cast down.