tion; if rather by giving them effect we may conciliate further
the friendship of Hellas, whilst we strengthen our own administration
and increase our fame; if by the same means the people shall be
provided with the necessaries of life, and our rich men be relieved of
expenditure on war; if with the large surplus to be counted on, we are
in a position to conduct our festivals on an even grander scale than
heretofore, to restore our temples, to rebuild our forts and docks, and
to reinstate in their ancient privileges our priests, our senators, our
magistrates, and our knights--surely it were but reasonable to enter
upon this project speedily, so that we too, even in our own day, may
witness the unclouded dawn of prosperity in store for our city.

But if you are agreed to carry out this plan, there is one further
counsel which I would urge upon you. Send to Dodona and to Delphi, I
would beg you, and consult the will of Heaven whether such a provision
and such a policy on our part be truly to the interest of Athens both
for the present and for the time to come. If the consent of Heaven be
thus obtained, we ought then, I say, to put a further question: whose
special favour among the gods shall we seek to secure with a view to the
happier execution of these measures?

And in accordance with that answer, let us offer a sacrifice of happy
omen to the deities so named, and commence the work; since if these
transactions be so carried out with the will of God, have we not the
right to prognosticate some further advance in the path of political
progress for this whole state?

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