To Philip (76-80)

For these latter are so far divorced from intelligence that they do not realize that one may apply the same words in some cases to a man’s injury, in others to his advantage. For example, if at the present moment one were to say that the King of Asia was plotting against the Hellenes, and had made preparations to send an expedition against us, he would not he saying anything disparaging of him; nay, he would, on the contrary, make us think more highly of his courage and his worth. But if, on the other hand, one should bring this charge against one of the descendants of Heracles, who made himself the benefactor of all Hellas, he would bring upon him the greatest opprobrium.

For who would not feel indignation and loathing if a man should be found to be plotting against those in whose behalf his ancestor elected to live a life of perils, and if he made no effort to preserve the good will which the latter had bequeathed as a legacy to his posterity, but, heedless of these examples, set his heart on reprehensible and wicked deeds?

You ought to give these matters careful thought, and not look on with indifference while rumors are springing up around you of the sort which your enemies seek to fasten upon you, but which your friends, to a man, would not hesitate to deny. And yet it is in the feelings of both these parties that you can best see the truth as to your own interests.

Perhaps, however, you conceive that it argues a mean spirit to pay attention to the drivelers who heap abuse upon you and to those who are influenced by what they say, especially when your own conscience is free from any sense of guilt. But you ought not to despise the multitude nor count it a little thing to have the respect of the whole world; on the contrary, you ought then, and only then, to be satisfied that you enjoy a reputation which is good and great and worthy of yourself and of your forefathers and of the achievements of your line,

when you have brought the Hellenes to feel toward you as you see the Lacedaemonians feel toward their kings,[*] and as your companions feel toward yourself. And it is not difficult for you to attain this if you determine to show yourself equally friendly to all, and cease treating some of the cities as friends and others as strangers, and if, furthermore, you fix your choice upon the kind of policy by which you can make yourself trusted by the Hellenes and feared by the barbarians.