(Archidamus:) The allies of the Athenians are not less numerous; they pay them tribute too; and war is not an affair of arms, but of money which give… - Thucydides

I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth. On the one hand, the friend who is familiar with every fact of the story may think that some point has not been set forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity.

Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.

for it has always been law that the weaker should be subject to the stronger.