That oracle, moreover, which all would acknowledge to be the most ancient and the most
 widely accepted and the most trustworthy in existence, recognized Messene as ours, not only at the time when it
 commanded us to receive the country as a gift from the sons of Cresphontes and to go to
 the aid of the wronged, but also later, when the war dragged on and both sides sent
 delegations to Delphi , the Messenians
 appealing for deliverance and we inquiring how we could most speedily make ourselves
 masters of their city, the god gave them no answer, thus showing that their appeal was
 unjust, while to us he revealed both what sacrifices we should perform and to whom we
 should send for aid. in the second Messenian War,
 685-668 B.C. , the Athenians are said to
 have sent Tyrtaeus, the lame school-master, to the aid of the Spartans. See Pausanias
 iv. 15. 
 And yet how could anyone furnish testimony more significant or clearer than this? For it
 has been shown, first of all (since nothing prevents our restating these points briefly),
 that we received the country from its rightful owners; secondly, that we took it by war,
 precisely as most of the cities in those days were founded; further, that we drove out
 those who had grievously sinned against the children of Heracles—men who by right should
 have been banished from the sight of all mankind; and, finally, it has been shown that the
 length of our tenure, the judgement of our enemies, and the oracles of Apollo all confirm
 our right to the possession of Messene . Anyone of these facts is enough to refute the assertions of those who presume to allege
 against us either that we now refuse to conclude peace because of a desire for
 aggrandizement, or that we then made war on the Messenians because we coveted what was not
 our own. I might perhaps say more than this about our acquisition of Messene , but I consider what I have already said to be
 sufficient Those who advise us to make peace declare that prudent men ought not to take the same
 view of things in fortunate as in unfortunate circumstances, but rather that they should
 always consult their immediate situation and accommodate themselves to their fortunes, and
 should never entertain ambitions beyond their power, but should at such times seek, not
 their just rights but their best interests. In all else I agree with them, but no man could ever persuade me that one should ever
 deem anything to be of greater consequence than justice; For this Isocratean idealism cf. Isoc. 8.31-35 . for
 I see that our laws have been made to secure it, that men of character and reputation
 pride themselves upon practicing it, and that it constitutes the chief concern of all
 well-regulated states;