Having heard this message, those who were then in authority at Thebes came to a decision which was in harmony neither
 with the opinion which some people have of them nor with their previous resolution; on the
 contrary, after both stating the case for themselves in reasonable terms and denouncing
 those who had invaded their country, they conceded to our city the recovery of the dead.
 And let no one suppose that I fail to realize that I am giving a different version of
 these same events from that which I shall be found to have written in the
 Panegyricus . But I do not think that anyone of those who can grasp the
 meaning of these events is so obsessed by stupidity and envy as not to commend me and
 consider me discreet for the manner in which I have treated them then and now. The version here is less offensive to the Thebans, perhaps
 because Athens is now cultivating friendlier relations with Thebes . 
 On this topic, then, I know that I have written wisely and expediently. But how
 pre-eminent our city stood in war at that time—for it was with the desire to show this
 that I discussed what happened at Thebes —is, I
 consider, clearly revealed to all by the circumstances which compelled the king of the
 Argives to become a suppliant of Athens and which so disposed the authorities at Thebes
 towards us that they chose of their own accord to accommodate themselves to the words dispatched to
 them by Athens more than to the laws ordained by the divine power. For our city would not
 have been in a position to settle properly any of those questions had she not stood far
 above the others both in reputation and in power. Although I have many noble things to tell of in the conduct of our ancestors, I am
 debating in my mind in what manner to present them. Indeed I am more concerned about this
 than about any other thing. For I come now to that part of my subject which I reserved for
 the last—that part in which I promised to show that our ancestors excelled the Spartans
 much more in their wars and battles than in all other respects. For the comparison of the early wars of Sparta and Athens, 175-198, cf. Isoc.
 4.51-70 .