History of the Peloponnesian War

men whom not now for the first time but always I have known to be wishing, either by reports such as these and still more mischievous than these, or by overt acts, to frighten the mass of you and themselves dominate the city. And I fear, moreover, that some day, by dint of repeated attempts, they may actually succeed; for we are poor hands at taking precautions before we are at their mercy, and, if we have discovered their plots, at dealing conclusively with the plotters.

Therefore it is on this very account that our city is seldom quiet, but is subject to frequent feuds and conflicts—not so much with the enemy as with itself—and sometimes to tyrannies and wicked oligarchies.