[117]
It is said that, when the Lacedaemonians were trying to overreach him, and
offered any assurance he was willing to accept, Philocrates replied that the
only possible assurance would be that they should satisfy him that, if they had
a mind to injure him, they would not have the power; “for,”
he added, “I am quite certain that you will always have the mind, and
there can be no assurance so long as you have the power.”
That,—if you will let me advise you,—is the sort of
assurance that you will hold against this Thracian. If he ever became master of
all Thrace, you need not inquire what
his sentiments toward you would be.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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