47
But we should both grow weary, you with listening and I with speaking, if we were to examine every incident of this sort; nay, if we were to recall also our experience with Thebes, while we should be grieved over past events, we should gain better hopes for the future. For when they ventured to withstand our inroads and our threats,Of Agesilaus in 394, 378, and 377 B.C.; of Phoebidas in 382, and of Cleombrotus in 378 and 376 B.C. fortune so completely reversed their situation that they, who at all other times have been in our power, now assert their right to dictate to us.
48
Seeing, then, that such great reversals have taken place, he is a very foolish person who thinks that they will fail to occur in our case; nay, we must endure for the present and be of good courage with regard to the future, knowing that states repair such disasters by the aid of good government and experience in warfare; and on this point no one would dare contradict me when I say that we have greater experience in military matters than any other people, and that government as it ought to be exists among us alone. With these two advantages on our side, we cannot fail to prove more successful in our undertakings than those who have paid but slight attention to either government or war.
