1In the matter of overthrowing and plundering cities, we must take great care that nothing is done rashly, nothing cruelly. 1And this is the mark of a great man, when affairs are in turmoil, to punish the guilty, to spare the multitude, and in every fortune to hold to what is right and honourable. 1For just as there are, as I said above, those who set military affairs above civil ones, so you may find many to whom dangerous and hot-headed counsels seem more splendid and greater than calm and considered ones. 83We must never by shunning danger let ourselves seem unwarlike and timid, but we must also avoid exposing ourselves to dangers without cause, than which nothing can be more foolish.
83Therefore in facing dangers we must imitate the practice of doctors, who treat the mildly ill gently, but with more serious diseases are compelled to apply dangerous and doubtful cures. 83Therefore it is the mark of a madman to wish for a storm in a calm, but of a wise man to meet the storm by any means, and all the more if you would gain more good when the matter is resolved than harm while it hangs in doubt. 83Dangerous undertakings, moreover, are dangerous partly to those who undertake them, partly to the state. 83Likewise, some are brought into jeopardy of their lives, others of their glory and the goodwill of their fellow citizens.
83We ought therefore to be readier to face dangers to ourselves than common ones, and to fight more willingly for honour and glory than for other advantages. 84But many have been found who were ready to pour out not only their money but even their lives for their country, yet the same men were unwilling to make even the smallest sacrifice of glory, even when the state demanded it; 84like Callicratidas, who, after he had been commander of the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War and had done many things outstandingly, ruined everything in the end when he did not follow the advice of those who thought that the fleet should be withdrawn from Arginusae and that there should be no battle with the Athenians; 84to them he replied that the Spartans, if that fleet were lost, could build another, but that he could not flee without dishonour to himself.
84And this indeed was a moderate blow to the Spartans; that other was deadly, by which, when Cleombrotus, fearing unpopularity, had rashly engaged with Epaminondas, the power of the Spartans collapsed. 84How much better Quintus Maximus did! 84Of whom Ennius says: 'One man by delaying restored the state for us. 84He did not place rumours before safety. 84Therefore now the man's glory shines the more, and ever more hereafter.' 84This kind of fault must be avoided in civil affairs too. 84For there are those who, from fear of unpopularity, do not dare to say what they think, even if it is the best course.