4
No, if you will be advised by me; nor, after losing our walls, shall we denude ourselves of our forces,—large numbers of our infantry, our cavalry and our archers: for, if you hold fast to these, you will make your democracy secure, will be more victorious over your enemies, and will be more useful to your allies. You are well aware that in the previous oligarchies of our time it was not the possessors of land who controlled the city: many of them were put to death, and many were expelled from the city;
5
and the people, after recalling them, restored your city to you, but did not venture to participate in it themselves. Thus, if you take my advice, you will not be depriving your benefactors, so far as you may, of their native land, nor be placing more confidence in words than in deeds, in the future than in the past, especially if you remember the champions of oligarchy, who in speech make war on the people,i.e., they pretend to be battling with the principle of democracy, but are really busy with robbery. but in fact are aiming at your property; and this they will acquire when they find you destitute of allies.
6
And then they ask us, when such is our plight, what deliverance there can be for the city, unless we do as the Lacedaemonians demand. But I call upon them to tell us what profit will accrue to the people if we obey their orders. If we do not, it will be far nobler to die fighting than to pass a manifest sentence of death upon ourselves.
