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It was your duty, men of Athens, before going
to war to have considered what armament would be available for the coming campaign, but
if, as a matter of fact, war was not foreseen, it was your duty to have considered also
the question of armament on that occasion when you were deliberating for the first time
about war after it had become certain. If you shall say that you have commissioned many
armies which your commanders1 have ruined, no one will accept this excuse
of you. For the same people cannot both absolve those in charge of their operations and
claim that through fault of these men these operations are not succeeding.
Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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