1Now I come to your very grave complaint and most dreadful suspicion, which must be guarded against not more by you yourself than by all citizens, and most of all by us who have been preserved by you: and though I hope it is false, I shall never make light of it, for your caution is our caution. 1But if one must err on one side or the other, I would rather seem too timid than not prudent enough. 1But who is this madman? 1One of your own? — and yet who are more your own than those to whom you restored a safety they did not hope for? — or one of the number of those who were with you?
1Such madness is not credible in anyone, that he should not set the life of the man under whose leadership he has gained all the highest things above his own. 1Or, if your friends are plotting no crime, must we be on guard lest your enemies are? 1Who are they? 1for all who were your enemies have either lost their lives through their own obstinacy or kept them through your mercy, so that either none of your enemies survive or those who were are now your firmest friends. 22But nevertheless, since there are such great hiding places and such deep recesses in men's minds, let us by all means increase your suspicion: for at the same time we shall increase your vigilance.
22For who of all men is so ignorant of affairs, so inexperienced in public life, so utterly unmindful ever of his own safety or of the common safety, as not to understand that his own safety is bound up in yours and that the life of all hangs on your one life? 22For my part, thinking of you day and night, as I ought, I fear only the accidents of human life, the uncertain outcomes of health and the frailty of our common nature, and I grieve that, when the commonwealth ought to be immortal, it rests on the life of one mortal man. 23But if to human accidents and the uncertain changes of health there is added also a conspiracy of crime and treachery, what god do we believe could help the commonwealth, even if he wished?