[38,5] αἴτημα θέλω ποιήσασθαι τοῦτο αὐτὸ παρ´ ὑμῶν, ἄνδρες Νικομηδεῖς, καὶ χαρίσασθέ μοι καὶ ὑπομείνατε, ἀκοῦσαι λόγου περιττοῦ καὶ ἀκαίρου καὶ μὴ πείσοντος ὑμᾶς. καὶ οὐδὲ μεγάλην εἶναι νομίζω τὴν δωρεάν· εἴτε γὰρ πεισθήσεσθε, ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ τὰ λυσιτελῆ λέγοντος· εἴτε ἐφ´ ὑμῖν ἀπόκειται τὸ πεισθῆναι, τί τοῦτο δύσκολόν ἐστιν, ἀνδρὶ φίλῳ λόγου μεταδοῦναι βουλομένῳ μάτην εἰπεῖν. καὶ τί δὴ τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὑπὲρ οὗ μέλλω μὲν συμβουλεύειν, ὀνομάσαι δὲ αὐτὸ ὀκνῶ; τὸ μὲν ὄνομα οὐκ ἀηδές, ὦ ἄνδρες Νικομηδεῖς, οὔτε ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις οὔτε ἐν ταῖς συγγενείαις οὔτε ἐν ταῖς φιλίαις οὔτε ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν οὔτε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. (6) ὑπὲρ γὰρ ὁμονοίας ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι, καλοῦ μὲν ὀνόματος, καλοῦ δὲ πράγματος, ἂν δ´ εὐθὺς προσθῶ περὶ τῆς πρὸς τίνας ὁμονοίας, τοῦτο δέδοικα, μὴ τὴν μὲν ὁμόνοιαν αὐτὴν ἐφ´ ἑαυτῆς καλὴν εἶναι πιστεύσητε, τὸ δὲ πρὸς τούτους ὁμονοεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οἷς ὁμονοεῖν φημι δεῖν ὑμᾶς, ἀδύνατον εἶναι νομίσητε. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν, ὃ μέχρι νῦν εἰς τὴν ἔχθραν καθίστησιν ὑμᾶς τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ γενέσθαι τὴν φιλίαν, τὸ πεπεῖσθαι δίχα λόγου μὴ δυνατὴν εἶναι ταῖς πόλεσι τὴν ὁμόνοιαν. μὴ θορυβήσητε δὲ ἀρχομένῳ πάλιν, ἀλλ´ ὑπομείνατε. (7) φημὶ δεῖν ὑμᾶς, ἄνδρες Νικομηδεῖς, ὁμονοῆσαι πρὸς Νικαεῖς· ἀκούσατε δὲ καὶ μὴ χαλεπήνητε μηδέπω, πρὶν ἂν εἴπω τὰς αἰτίας. οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ νοσῶν πρὸς τὸν ἰατρὸν ὀργίζεται διατάττοντα τὴν θεραπείαν, ἀλλ´ ἀκούει μὲν ἀηδῶς αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, ὅτι αὐτὸν καὶ τμηθῆναι δεῖ καὶ καυθῆναι, πείθεται δὲ ὅμως· περὶ γὰρ σωτηρίας ὁ κίνδυνός ἐστι. καίτοι τί τοῦτο εἶπον; τὸ γὰρ ἐμὸν φάρμακον, ὃ προσφέρω ταῖς πόλεσιν, ἥδιστόν ἐστι φαρμάκων καὶ χωρὶς οὗ ζῆν οὐδεὶς ἂν ἐθελήσειεν εὖ φρονῶν. (8) βούλομαι δὲ διελεῖν τὸν λόγον καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς εἰπεῖν τῆς ὁμονοίας τῆς καθόλου, ποδαπόν τέ ἐστι καὶ τίνων αἴτιον, ἐξ ἐναντίας τὴν στάσιν καὶ τὴν ἔχθραν διακρίνας πρὸς τὴν φιλίαν· εἶτα (ἔσται γὰρ ἀκόλουθον {τὸ} τῆς ὁμονοίας ἀποδειχθείσης ὠφελίμου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἅπασιν) ἀποδεῖξαι ταύτην τὴν ὁμόνοιαν τῶν πόλεων τούτων καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτην οὖσαν ὑμῖν καὶ λυσιτελεστάτην. οὐκ ἀποστήσομαι δὲ εἰπεῖν οὐδ´ ὅπως ἂν μεῖναι γενομένη δύναιτο· καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο ὁρῶ πολλοῖς ἐνοχλοῦν. (9) εὔχομαι δὲ τοῖς θεοῖς πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς ὑμετέροις καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνων, εἰ ταῦτα εὐνοίᾳ τῇ πρὸς μόνους ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ νῦν λέγω καὶ μηδεμίαν οἰκείαν θηρώμενος δόξαν ἢ λυσιτέλειαν ἐκ τῆς καταλλαγῆς τῆς ὑμετέρας, καὶ πρὸ πάντων εἰ μέλλει λυσιτελήσειν τῇ πόλει, δοῦναι μὲν ἐμοὶ τοὺς ἀξίους τοῦ πράγματος εἰπεῖν λόγους, παρασχεῖν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἐμοὶ πεισθῆναι τὰ συμφέροντα βουλομένους.

[38,5] — to forestall all such objections, I wish to make this very special request of you, men of Nicomedia—and do me the favour of being patient—that you listen to a speech which is superfluous and untimely and which may not convince you. Moreover, I do not consider it a great favour I am asking either ; for if you are persuaded by my words, it is worth your while to have listened to one who tells you what is to your advantage ; while, on the other hand, if you reserve your acquiescence, what is there unpleasant in having allowed a friend to take the floor who is willing to speak to no avail ? Very well, what is this subject on which I am about to offer advice, and yet am reluctant to name it ? The word, men of Nicomedia, is not distasteful whether in the home or the clan or in friendly circles or cities or nations ; (6) for concord is what I am going to talk about, a fine word and a fine thing ; but if I proceed to add forthwith concord with whom, I fear lest, while you may be convinced that concord of and by itself is fine, you may believe that being concordant with those persons with whom I claim you should be concordant is impossible. For what till now has set you at your present enmity one toward another, and has prevented the establishment of friendship, is the unreasoning conviction that concord is impossible for your cities. Nay, don't raise an outcry when I make a fresh start but bear with me. (7) What I say, men of Nicomedia, is that you must achieve concord with the Nicaeans ; but hear me out and don't get angry yet before I state my reasons. For neither is the sick man angry with his physician when he prescribes his treatment, but, though he dislikes to hear him say he must submit to surgery or cautery, still he obeys ; for his life is at stake. And yet why have I said this.? For my remedy, the one I offer your cities; is a most pleasant remedy, and one without which no man would wish to live, if he has good sense. (8) But I want to break up my address, and first of all to speak about concord itself in general, telling both whence it comes and what it achieves, and then over against that to set off strife and hatred in contradistinction to friendship. For when concord has been proved to be beneficial to all mankind, the proof will naturally follow that this particular concord between these particular cities is both quite indispensable for you and quite profitable as well. I shall not, however, refrain from telling also how concord may endure when once achieved ; for that problem, indeed, I see is bothering many. But I pray to all the gods, both yours and theirs, that if what I now say is said because of goodwill to you alone and not in pursuit of any personal glory or advantage to be derived from your reconciliation, and above all if it is destined to be of advantage to the state—if this is true, I pray that the gods may not only grant me such eloquence as is worthy of my cause, but that they may also make you willing to take my advice in the matters which are to your advantage.