Agis and Cleomenes

But excess is everywhere harmful, and in the case of men who cherish political ambitions, it is deadly; for it sweeps them away into manifest folly and madness as they grasp after great power, when they refuse to regard what is honourable as glorious, but consider that what is glorious is good. Therefore, what Phocion said to Antipater, who demanded from him some dishonourable service, Thou canst not have Phocion as thy friend and at the same time thy flatterer, this, or something akin to this, must be said to the multitude: