Letter 9: To Archidamus (18)

My part, it is true, is the smaller; for to declare what one thinks is usually not so very difficult. But for you it is fitting, giving attention to all that I have said, to deliberate upon the question whether you should shrink from the conduct of the affairs of Hellas—you, whose noble lineage I have a little while ago described, leader of the Lacedaemonians, addressed by the name King, and a man who enjoys the greatest renown of all the Hellenes—or, disdaining the matters you now have in hand, you should put your hand to greater undertakings.