Kitap 2
3.43
Now would the man who offers openly this sort of admonition be fairly regarded as a well-wisher, or as a traitor? It is not, Critias, the men who prevent one’s making enemies in abundance nor the men who teach one how to gain allies in the greatest numbers,—it is not these, I say, who make one’s enemies strong; but it is much rather those who404 B.C. unjustly rob others of property and put to death people who are guilty of no wrong, who, I say, make their opponents numerous and betray not only their friends but also themselves, and all to satisfy their covetousness.
3.44
And if it is not evident in any other way that what I say is true, look at the matter in this way: do you suppose that Thrasybulus and Anytus and the other exiles would prefer to have us follow here the policy which I am urging by word, or the policy which these men are carrying out in deed? For my part, I fancy that now they believe every spot is full of allies, while if the best element in the state were friendly to us, they would count it difficult even to set foot anywhere in the land!
3.45
Again, as to his statement that I have a propensity to be always changing sides, consider these facts also: it was the people itself, as everybody knows, which voted for the government of the Four Hundred, being advised that the Lacedaemonians would trust any form of government sooner than a democracy.
