On the Confiscation of the Property Of The Brother Of Nicias (16-20)

But what calls for the highest indignation is that the disposition of men in public life today is such that the orators do not propose what will be most beneficial to the city, but it is for proposals which must bring profit to them that you give your votes.[*]

Now, if it were to the advantage of your people that, while some kept their own, others had to suffer the unjust confiscation of their property, you would have some reason to neglect our arguments: but in fact you must all acknowledge that unanimity is the greatest boon to a city, while faction is the cause of all evils; and that mutual dissensions chiefly arise from the desire of some for what is not theirs, and the ejection of others from what they have. This was your conclusion shortly after your return, and your reasoning was sound;

for you still remembered the disasters that had occurred, and you prayed to the gods to restore the city to unanimity rather than permit the pursuit of vengeance for what was overpast to lead to faction in the city and the rapid enrichment of the speech-makers.

And yet it would have been more pardonable to show resentment shortly after you had returned, while your anger was freshly kindled, than to pursue so belated a vengeance for what is overpast at the bidding of men who, after remaining in the city, conceive that they give you a pledge of their own loyalty when they make bad subjects of their fellows instead of showing themselves good ones, and who today reap the fruits of the city’s successes without having previously shared your perils.