[82] Therefore, we must strain every nerve to win and to keep manhood and nobleness; so that we may gain that satisfaction which is the sweetest and the best, and be saved from the bitterest of sorrows; since to fail of good altogether is not so hard as to lose the good that has once been ours.

[83] And let us ask ourselves what excuse we could offer for being unworthy of our past.

Shall we say it is because we have won an empire?
Surely it is hardly fitting that the ruler should be baser than the ruled.

Or is it that we seem to be happier to-day than heretofore?
Is cowardice, then, an adjunct of happiness?
Or is it simply because we have slaves and must punish them if they do wrong?
But by what right can a man, who is bad himself, punish others for badness or stupidity?
[84] Remember, too, that we have arranged for the maintenance of a whole multitude, to guard our persons and our houses, and it would be shameful for us to depend for safety on the weapons of others and refuse to carry weapons for ourselves.

Surely we ought to know that there can be no defence so strong as a man's own gallantry.