History of the Peloponnesian War

" I have both myself, Lacedaemonians, had experience in my day of many wars, and I see men among you who are as old as I am; no one of them, therefore, is eager for war through lack of experience, as would be the case with most men, nor because he thinks it a good or a safe thing.

And you would find that this war about which you are now deliberating is likely to prove no trifling matter, if one should reflect upon it soberly.