History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides

Thucydides. The history of the Peloponnesian War, Volume 1-2. Dale, Henry, translator. London: Heinemann and Henry G. Bohn, 1851-1852.

In short, you must be convinced, soldiers, both that it is necessary for you to be brave men—since there is no place near which you can reach in safety, if you act like cowards—and, at the same time, that if you escape from your enemies now, the rest of you will gain a sight of all you may any where wish to see; and the Athenians will raise up again, though fallen at present, the great power of their country. For it is men that make a city, and not walls, or ships, without any to man them.

Nicias, then, delivered this exhortation, and at the same time went up to the troops, and if he saw them any where straggling, and not marching in order, he collected and brought them to their post; while Demosthenes also did no less to those who were near him, addressing them in a similar manner.