hippus, the first man of his time at Athens, ablest
alike in counsel and in action, and gave the following advice:

"There is one principle, Athenians, which I hold to through everything,
and that is the principle of no concession to the Peloponnesians. I know
that the spirit which inspires men while they are being persuaded to
make war is not always retained in action; that as circumstances change,
resolutions change. Yet I see that now as before the same, almost
literally the same, counsel is demanded of me; and I put it to those of
you who are allowing yourselves to be persuaded, to support the national
resolves even in the case of reverses, or to forfeit all credit for
their wisdom in the event of success. For sometimes the course of things
is as arbitrary as the plans of man; indeed this is why we usually blame
chance for whatever does not happen as we expected. Now it was clear
before that Lacedaemon entertained designs against us; it is still
more clear now. The treaty provides that we shall mutually submit our
differences to legal settlement, and that we shall meanwhile each keep
what we have. Yet the Lacedaemonians never yet made us any such offer,
never yet would accept from us any such offer; on the contrary, they
wish complaints to be settled by war instead of by negotiation; and
in the end we find them here dropping the tone of expostulation and
adopting that of command. They order us to raise the siege of Potidaea,
to let Aegina be independent, to revoke the Megara decree; and they
conclude with an ultimatum warning us to leave the Hellenes independent.
I hope that you will none of you think that we shall be going to war
for a trifle if we refuse to revoke the Megara decree, which appears
in front of their complaints, and the revocation of which is to save us
from war, or let any feeling of self-reproach linger in your minds, as
if you went to war for slight cause. Why, this trifle contains the whole
seal and trial of your resolution. If you give way, you will instantly
have to meet some greater demand, as having been frightened into
obedience in the first instance; while a firm refusal will make them
clearly understand that they must treat you more as equals. Make your
decision therefore at once, either to submit before you are harmed, or
if we are to go to war, as I for one think we ought, to do so without
caring whether the ostensible cause be great or small, resolved
against making concessions or consen