Panegyricus (126-130)

they sacked and razed the city of Mantinea,[*] after peace had been concluded; they seized the Cadmea[*] in Thebes; and now[*] they are laying siege to Olynthus and Phlius:[*] on the other hand, they are assisting Amyntas, king of the Macedonians,[*] and Dionysius,[*] the tyrant of Sicily, and the barbarian king who rules over Asia,[*] to extend their dominions far and wide.

And yet is it not extraordinary that those who stand at the head of the Hellenes should set up one man as master over a host of human beings so great that it is not easy to ascertain even their numbers, while they do not permit the very greatest of our cities to govern even themselves, but try to compel them to submit to slavery or else involve them in the greatest disasters?

But most monstrous of all it is to see a people who arrogate to themselves the right of leadership making war every day upon the Hellenes and committed for all time to an alliance with the barbarians.

And let no one suppose that I am ill-natured, because I have recalled these facts to you in rather harsh terms, after having stated at the outset that I intended to speak on conciliation; for it is not with the intention of stigmatizing the city of the Lacedaemonians in the eyes of others that I have spoken as I have about them, but that I may induce the Lacedaemonians themselves, so far as it lies in the power of words to do so, to make an end of such a policy.

It is not, however, possible to turn men from their errors, or to inspire in them the desire for a different course of action without first roundly condemning their present conduct; and a distinction must be made between accusation, when one denounces with intent to injure, and admonition,[*] when one uses like words with intent to benefit; for the same words are not to be interpreted in the same way unless they are spoken in the same spirit.