On the Twelve Years (56-60)

. . . by the course of events proclaims the fire of war. This letter of Alexander’s broke my purpose.[*] This letter, embracing war in characters of ink, almost seized me by the hand and roused me. It travelled through my thoughts and did not let me rest in peace; for the danger was at our gates.

My diplomacy and the clamor that greeted it combined to set the city on the watch, saved Attica from being swamped from every side as by a wave and turned the army in Boeotia against the Persians.[*]

Fear of war, like darkness, does not present the same aspect when it confronts us as when it has been averted.

It seems, therefore, the harshest imaginable rule that a man should be held accountable in time of peace for his administration during war. For every critic judges it with reference to the present calm, not to the danger that is over. And yet, if we make no allowance for the crisis, we are removing too the justification for the action.

Each offence is dealt with in its own particular way some call for the council of the Areopagus, some for lesser courts, others for the Heliaea. All these are distinguished in name, circumstance, time, penalty, procedure, and in the number of the jury.