Antidosis

Well, then, in order that I may forestall even this objection, I shall abstain from defending the speech to which you have listened and shall attempt to bring before you a selection of equal length from another oration, in which it will be seen that I have given much attention to all these questions. At the beginning of this oration I speak on the question of making peace with the Chians, the Rhodians, and the Byzantines;

and, after I have shown that it is to the advantage of Athens to end the war, I decry our dominion over the Hellenes and our sea-power, showing that it is no whit different, either in its conduct or in its results, from tyranny. I recall also the evils which that power has brought upon Athens, upon the Lacedaemonians, and upon all the others.