A Plea For Union In Greece
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"Facts I imagine, Aetolians, have made it clear to you
that neither King Ptolemy nor the community of Rhodes,
Byzantium, Chios, or Mitylene, regard a composition with you
as unimportant. For this is not the first or the second time
that we have introduced the subject of peace to your assembly;
but ever since you entered upon the war we have beset you
with entreaties, and have never desisted from warning you on this
subject; because we saw that its immediate result would be
the destruction of yourselves and of Macedonia, and because
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we foresaw in the future danger to our own countries and to that
of all other Greeks. For as, when a man has once set a fire
alight, the result is no longer dependent upon his choice, but
it spreads in whatever direction chance may direct, guided for
the most part by the wind and the combustible nature of the
material, and frequently attacks the first author of the conflagration himself: so too, war, when once it has been kindled by a
nation, sometimes devours the first those who kindled it; and
soon rushes along destroying everything that falls in its way,
continually gathering fresh strength, and blown into greater
heat by the folly of the people in its neighbourhood, as though
by the wind. Wherefore, men of Aetolia, considering that we,
as representatives of the whole body of the islanders and of the
Greek inhabitants of Asia, are here to beseech you to put an
end to war and to choose peace, because the matter affects
us as well as you, show your wisdom by listening to us and
yielding to our entreaties. For if you were carrying on a war
which, though profitless (and most wars are that), was yet
glorious from the motive which prompted it, and the reputation likely to accrue from it, you might be pardoned perhaps
for a fixed determination to continue it; but if it is a war
of the most signal infamy, which can bring you nothing
but discredit and obloquy,—does not such an undertaking
claim considerable hesitation on your part? We will speak
our opinion frankly; and you, if you are wise, will give us a
quiet hearing. For it is much better to hear a disagreeable
truth now and thereby be preserved, than to listen to smooth
things now, and soon afterwards to be ruined yourselves, and to
ruin the rest of the Greeks with you.
