[3]
In the next place, there must be no discouragement over what has
happened, because what is worst in the past is the best hope for the future. What, then,
do I mean by this, men of Athens? That it is
because you do nothing that you ought to do that your affairs are in a bad way; since if
you were doing everything you should and your affairs were in this state, there would be
not even a hope of improvement.1