And that the Persian king was not responsible for this outcome recent years have clearly shown; for when he stood aloof from the conflict, and your situation was desperate, and when almost all the cities were in servitude to the Lacedaemonians, nevertheless you were so superior to them in the war that they were glad to see the conclusion of peace.

Let no one of you, then, be afraid, if Justice is with him, to take such dangers upon himself, nor think that allies will be lacking, if you are willing to aid all who are victims of wrong, and not the Thebans alone; if you now cast your vote against them, you will cause many to desire your friendship. For if you show yourselves ready to war upon all alike in defense of the treaties,

who will be so insane as to prefer to join those who try to enslave than to be in company with you who are fighting for their freedom? But if you are not so minded, what reason will you give, if war breaks out again, to justify your demand that the Greeks should join you, if you hold out to them independence and then grant to the Thebans to destroy any city they desire?

How can you avoid the charge of acting with inconsistency if, while you do not prevent the Thebans from violating their oaths and treaties, yet you pretend that you are making war on the Lacedaemonians on behalf of the same obligations? Or again, if you abandoned your own possessions in your desire to strengthen the alliance as much as possible, yet are about to permit the Thebans to keep the territory of others and act in such fashion as to injure your reputation with all the world?

But this would be the crowning outrage—if you have determined to stand by those who have been the constant allies of the Lacedaemonians when the Lacedaemonians demand of them an action which violates the treaty, and yet shall permit us, who have been your allies for the longest time, and were subservient to the Lacedaemonians under compulsion in the last war only, to become for that reason the most miserable of all mankind.