If you were of the same mind, men of Athens,
when listening to the speeches of those who counsel you and when judging the outcome of
measures taken, offering advice would be the safest thing in the world. For if you met
with good luck and success—because one must always use words of good
omen—the credit for these would be common to yourselves and the sponsor. But, as
things are, you most enjoy listening to those who say what you wish to hear, yet often you
charge them with deceiving you if everything does not turn out the way you would like,
[2]
not taking this into account, that of the task of
studying and calculating the best measures, within human limitations, and of explaining
them to you, each man is himself the arbiter, but of their execution and profitableness
the control, for the most part, lies in the power of Fortune.1 As a human being it is enough for a man to stand accountable
for his own thinking; but to stand accountable also for the play of Fortune is quite
impossible.
[3]
Certainly, if a way had been discovered
whereby a man might address the people with safety to the State and without hazard to
himself, it would be madness to ignore it; but since it is a certainty that one who
declares an opinion on actions about to be taken will share in the benefits therefrom
accruing and participate in the credit for these benefits, I consider it shameful to speak
as a loyal citizen, yet not face the test if some danger shall arise therefrom.2
So I pray the gods that such measures as are destined to profit both the State and myself
may occur to my mind to suggest and to you to adopt. For to seek by any and every means to
be on the winning side is either one of two things, I should say, a sign of mental
derangement or of one who is bent on selfish gain.