Forms of government

nay, we must endure for the present and be of good courage with regard to the future, knowing that states repair such disasters by the aid of good government and experience in warfare;

This much, at any rate, is clear to all—that we have been superior to all the Hellenes, not because of the size of our city or the number of its inhabitants, but because the government which we have established is like a military camp, well administered and rendering willing obedience to its officers.

and in addition to this ally are good government and sober habits of life, and a willingness to battle to the death against the enemy, and the conviction that nothing is so much to be dreaded as the reproaches of our fellow-citizens—qualities which we possess in larger measure than any other people in existence.

On the former topic, how a ruler should act, you have heard Isocrates speak;

men under other governments give attention to the affairs of state as if they were the concern of others;

Now one might multiply arguments to prove that this form of government is more agreeable and mild and just than others;

Kingship and despotism, in his judgment, were both forms of government, but he held that they differed.