On the Chersonese

but you—have you never cleared away these obstacles, even if you had no further ambitions, and have you tamely submitted? Undoubtedly you have stood aside from his path and made it abundantly clear that, were he to die ten times over, you at least will make no further move. Then why do you pester us with your embassies and your complaints? If these are their words, what are we to say, Athenians? How are we to answer? For my part, I cannot tell.

Now there are some who think they confute a speaker the moment they ask, What then ought we to do? To these I will give the fairest and truest answer: not what you are doing now. I will not, however, shrink from going carefully into details; only they must be as willing to act as they are eager to question.