History of the Peloponnesian War

Moreover, hope and desire for every thing, the one taking the lead, and the other following; and the one devising the attempt, while the other suggests the facility of succeeding in it; cause the most numerous disasters; and though unseen, they are more influential than the dangers that are seen. Fortune, too, aids them no less in urging men on;

for by sometimes siding them unexpectedly, she induces them to run the risk even with inferior means; especially in the case of states, in as much as the venture is for the greatest object, namely, freedom, or empire over others: and as each individual, when acting in concert with all, unreasonably carries his ideas to an extravagant length concerning then.

In short, it is impossible [to remedy the evil], and the man is very simple who thinks, that when human nature is eagerly set on doing a thing, he has any means of diverting it, either by the rigour of laws, or any other kind of terror.

"We must not, then, either take bad counsel through trusting to the punishment of death as a thing to be relied on, or leave to those who have revolted no hope of being allowed to change their minds, and wipe out their offence in as short a time as possible.