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26“It is in your power, then, if you will receive this evidence that I mentioned from your own land and your own ancestors, to decide rightly; and that is why I did not wish to cite examples from abroad, though I might have mentioned countless such. One example, however, I will offer from the best and most ancient city, from which even our fathers did not disdain to introduce certain laws; 2for it would be disgraceful for us, who so far surpass the Athenians in might and intelligence, to deliberate less wisely than they. Now they were once at variance among themselves, as you all know, and as a result were overcome in war by the Lacedaemonians and were subjected to a tyranny of the more powerful citizens; 3and they did not obtain a respite from their ills until they made a compact and agreement to forget their past injuries, though these were many and severe, and never to bring any accusation whatever or to bear any malice against any one because of them. 4Accordingly, when they had thus come to their senses, they not only ceased being subject to tyrannies and seditions, but flourished in every way, regaining their city, laying claim to the sovereignty of the Greeks, and finally gaining the authority, as often happened, to save or destroy the Lacedaemonians themselves and also the Thebans. 5And yet, if the men who seized Phyle and returned from the Peiraeus had chosen to take vengeance on the city party for the wrongs they had suffered, while they would, to be sure, have been thought to have performed a justifiable action, yet they would have suffered, as well as caused, many evils. 6For just as they exceeded their hopes by defeating their foes, they might perhaps in turn have been unexpectedly worsted.
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