History of the Peloponnesian War

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.