is visited upon us through one another. For example, it may be that even now the gods
 have assigned to me the task of speech while to you they allot the task of action, Cf. Isoc. Letter 9.17 . 
 considering that you will be the best master in that province, while in the field of
 speech I might prove least irksome to my hearers. Indeed, I believe that even your past
 achievements would never have reached such magnitude had not one of the gods helped you to
 succeed; and I believe he did so, not that you might spend your whole life warring upon the
 barbarians in Europe alone, but that, having been
 trained and having gained experience and come to know your own powers in these campaigns,
 you might set your heart upon the course which I have urged upon you. It were therefore
 shameful, now that fortune nobly leads the way, to lag behind and refuse to follow whither
 she desires to lead you forward. It is my belief that, while you ought to honor everyone who has any praise for your past
 accomplishments, you ought to consider that those laud you in the noblest terms who judge
 your nature capable of even greater triumphs, and not those whose discourse has gratified
 you for the moment only, but those who will cause future generations to admire your
 achievements beyond the deeds of any man of the generations that are past. I would like to
 say many things in this strain, but I am not able; the reason why, I have stated more
 often than I ought. It remains, then, to summarize what I have said in this discourse, in order that you may
 see in the smallest compass the substance of my counsels. I assert that it is incumbent
 upon you to work for the good of the Hellenes, to reign as king over the Macedonians, The indigenous Macedonians are regarded as half
 barbarians. and to extend your power over the greatest possible number of the
 barbarians. For if you do these things, all men will be grateful to you: the Hellenes for
 your kindness to them; the Macedonians if you reign over them, not like a tyrant, but like
 a king; and the rest of the nations, if by your hands they are delivered from barbaric
 despotism and are brought under the protection of Hellas . How well this discourse has been composed with respect to appropriateness and finish of
 style is a question which it is fair to ask my hearers to answer; but that no one could
 give you better advice than this, or advice more suited to the present situation—of this I
 believe that I am well assured.