eloquence and an earnestness which are far in advance of those displayed in the
earlier speeches.

The statement of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, that the Speech as we have it, is
really a conflation of two speeches, of which the second (beginning at Sec. 30) was
delivered in 347, is generally (and rightly) discredited.]


{1} If some new subject were being brought before us, men of Athens, I would
have waited until most of your ordinary advisers had declared their opinion; and
if anything that they said were satisfactory to me, I would have remained
silent, and only if it were not so, would I have attempted to express my own
view. But since we find ourselves once more considering a question upon which
they have often spoken, I think I may reasonably be pardoned for rising first of
all. For if their advice to you in the past had been what it ought to have been,
you would have had no occasion for the present debate.

{2} In the first place, then, men of Athens, we must not be downhearted at our
present situation, however wretched it may seem to be. For in the worst feature
of the past lies our best hope for the future-in the fact, that is, that we are
in our present plight because you are not doing your duty in any respect; for if
you were doing all that you should do, and we were still in this evil case, we
could not then even hope for any improvement. {3} In the second place, you must
bear in mind (what some of you have heard from others, and those who know can
recollect for themselves), how powerful the Spartans were, not long ago, and yet
how noble and patriotic your own conduct was, when instead of doing anything
unworthy of your country you faced the war with Sparta [n] in defence of the
right. [n] Now why do I remind you of these things? It is because, men of
Athens, I wish you to see and to realize, that so long as you are on your guard
you have nothing to fear; but that if you are indifferent, nothing can be as you