30
The anger of those who have been wronged is appeased whenever he who is to blame refrains from contentiousness and lets the party wronged judge for himself the kindness he will show.
31
They entombed the envoys in a well,For the well-known story of the envoys of Darius, whom the Spartans threw into a well and the Athenians into a pit, see Hdt. 7.133 noble in so far as they stood by their resolution, but impious in the execution of the punishment.
32
Sparta was worn out with difficulties.
33
Demosthenes, bitter sycophant that he is, by the cleverness of his words distorted the fact and showed it in a bad light.
34
They came to realize clearly the changeability of the politician’s life, the uncertainty of the future, the variety of fortune’s changes, and the difficulty of gauging the crises that hold Greece in their grip. Therefore the law which they intended to direct against others . . .
35
It was not I that advised this course: my country, the occasion, the circumstances themselves, thought fit to use my voice to put the measures into effect. It Is unjust therefore that an adviser should be held accountable for circumstances and for events whose outcome rested with fortune.
36
Killed by his own hand he departed this life.
37
The daughters of Erechtheus,For the story of the daughters of Erechtheus see Lyc. 98 and note. by nobility of virtue, triumphed over the woman’s weakness in their hearts the frailty of their nature was made virile by devotion to the soil that reared them.
38
Old men shrink from death in the sunset of life.
39
. . . lit up Greece with the fire of war.
40
A word, if rashly uttered, will sharpen the sword of war, and yet, if skilfully chosen, it will blunt the spear even though it is already whetted. There is more speed in management than in force.
41
The barbarian accepted the statement but did not probe its meaning. For his ears interpreted the message to conform with his own pleasure rather than with the truth. But this was no idle speech, for deeds followed hard upon it.
