concealment my own sentiments on this matter. There _is_ no work that can
be demanded of any of your public advisers, except that he should advise
what is best; and I think I can easily show you that this is so. {74} No
doubt you know how the great Timotheus[n] delivered a speech to the effect
that you ought to go to the rescue and save the Euboeans, when the Thebans
were trying to reduce them to servitude; and how, in the course of his
speech, he spoke somewhat in this strain:--'What?' said he, 'when you
actually have the Thebans in the island, do you debate what you are to do
with them, and how you are to act? Will you not cover the sea with
warships, men of Athens? Will you not rise from your seats and go
instantly to the Peiraeus and launch your vessels?' {75} So Timotheus
spoke, and you acted as he bade you; and through his speech and your
action the work was done. But if he had given you the best possible advice
(as in fact he did), and you had lapsed into indolence and paid no
attention to it, would the city have achieved any of the results which
followed on that occasion? Impossible! And so it is with all that I say
to-day, and with all that this or that speaker may say. For the actions
you must look to yourselves; from the speaker you must require that he
give you the best counsel that he can.[n]

{76} I desire now to sum up my advice and to leave the platform. I say
that we must contribute funds, and must keep together the force now in
existence, correcting anything that may seem amiss in it, but not
disbanding the whole force because of the possible criticisms against it.
We must send envoys everywhere to instruct, to warn, and to act. Above
all, we must punish those who take bribes in connexion with public
affairs, and must everywhere display our abhorrence of them; in order that
reasonable men, who offer their honest services, may find their policy
justified in their own eyes and in those of others. {77} If you treat the
situation thus, and cease to ignore it altogether, there is a chance--a