History of the Peloponnesian War

And if the Athenians reduce us to subjection, though it is by your decisions that they will gain the victory, it is in their own name that they will enjoy the honour; and they will receive no other prize for the victory than those men who put the victory into their hands. If, on the other hand, we are the conquerors, you will also have to submit to the punishment due to the authors of our dangers.

Consider then, and choose at once, either immediate slavery without any peril, or the chance of gaining the victory with us, and so avoiding a disgraceful submission to these men as your masters, as also of escaping our enmity, which would be of no trivial kind.

Hermocrates spoke to this effect; and after him, Euphemus, the Athenian ambassador, as follows: