They entombed the envoys in a well,For the well-known story of the envoys of Darius, whom the Spartans threw into a well and the Athenians into a pit, see Hdt. 7.133 noble in so far as they stood by their resolution, but impious in the execution of the punishment.

Sparta was worn out with difficulties.

Demosthenes, bitter sycophant that he is, by the cleverness of his words distorted the fact and showed it in a bad light.

They came to realize clearly the changeability of the politician’s life, the uncertainty of the future, the variety of fortune’s changes, and the difficulty of gauging the crises that hold Greece in their grip. Therefore the law which they intended to direct against others . . .

It was not I that advised this course: my country, the occasion, the circumstances themselves, thought fit to use my voice to put the measures into effect. It Is unjust therefore that an adviser should be held accountable for circumstances and for events whose outcome rested with fortune.