f the Persians would have
been brought to an end. Yet it is a fearful thing even to hear it
reported that the whole power of the king had come to depend upon one
human creature. 10 (d) Do not thou therefore propose to go into any
such danger when there is no need, but do as I say:--at the present time
dissolve this assembly; and afterwards at whatever time it shall seem
good to thee, when thou hast considered prudently with thyself, proclaim
that which seems to thee best: for good counsel I hold to be a very
great gain; since even if anything shall prove adverse, the counsel
which has been taken is no less good, though it has been defeated by
fortune; while he who took counsel badly at first, if good fortune
should go with him has lighted on a prize by chance, but none the
less for that his counsel was bad. (e) Thou seest how God strikes with
thunderbolts the creatures which stand above the rest and suffers them
not to make a proud show; while those which are small do not provoke
him to jealousy: thou seest also how he hurls his darts ever at those
buildings which are the highest and those trees likewise; for God is
wont to cut short all those things which stand out above the rest. Thus
also a numerous army is destroyed by one of few men in some such manner
as this, namely when God having become jealous of them casts upon them
panic or thundering from heaven, then they are destroyed utterly and
not as their worth deserves; for God suffers not any other to have high
thoughts save only himself. (f) Moreover the hastening of any matter
breeds disasters, whence great losses are wont to be produced; but in
waiting there are many good things contained, as to which, if they
do not appear to be good at first, yet one will find them to be so in
course of time. (g) To thee, O king, I give this counsel: but thou son
of Gobryas, Mardonios, cease speaking foolish words about the Hellenes,
since they in no way deserve to be spoken of with slight; for by
uttering slander against the Hellenes thou art stirring the king himself
to make an expedition, and it is to this very end that I think thou art
straining all thy endeavour. Let not this be so; for slander is a most
grievous thing: in it the wrongdoers are two, and the person who suffers
wrong is one. The slanderer does a wrong in that he speaks against
one who is not present, the other in that he is persuaded of the thing
before he gets certain knowledge of it, and he who is not presen