3
I am astonished that those who hold the view to which I have just referred do not rail also against wealth and strength and courage; for if they are really hostile to eloquence because there are men who do wrong and speak falsehood, they ought to disparage as well all other good things; for there will be found also among men who possess these some who do wrong and use these advantages to the injury of many.Good things are bad if badly used. See Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1094b 17. Cf. Seneca, Ep. i. 5. 9: “multa bona nostra nobis nocent.”
4
Nevertheless, it is not fair to decry strength because there are persons who assault people whom they encounter, nor to traduce courage because there are those who slay men wantonly, nor in general to transfer to things the depravity of men, but rather to put the blame on the men themselves who misuse the good things, and who, by the very powers which might help their fellow-countrymen, endeavor to do them harm.The same argument is made at length in Isoc. 15.251-252, also in defense of eloquence.
