“We must not now, like Nikias, delay,
    And see the time for action pass away.”

And again in the play of the ‘Farmers,’ where this dialogue occurs: 

    “A.  I want to till my farm. 
     B. And wherefore no? 
     A.  ’Tis you Athenians will not let me go;
        A thousand drachmas I would give, to be
        From office in the state for ever free. 
     B. Your offer we accept.  The state will have
        Two thousand, with what Nikias just gave.”

Moreover, Nikias did Athens much harm by permitting Kleon to attain to such a height of power and reputation, which gave him such exaggerated confidence in himself that he grew quite unmanageable, and caused many terrible disasters, by which Nikias suffered as much as any man.  Kleon also was the first to break through the decorum observed by former public speakers, by shouting, throwing back his cloak, slapping his thigh, and walking up and down while speaking, which led to the total disregard of decency and good manners among public speakers, and eventually was the ruin of the state.

IX.  About this time Alkibiades began to gain credit in Athens as a public speaker, less licentious than Kleon, and like the soil of Egypt described by Homer, which bears

     “A mingled crop of good and bad alike.”

Thus Alkibiades, with immense powers both for good and evil, produced great changes in the affairs of Athens.  Nikias, even if he had been freed from the opposition of Kleon, could not now have quietly consolidated the power of the state, for as soon as he had arranged matters in a fair way to produce peace and quiet, Alkibiades, to satisfy his own furious ambition, threw them again into confusion and war.  This was brought about by the following circumstances.  The two chief hindrances to peace were Kleon and Brasidas; as war concealed the baseness of the former, and added to the glory of the latter.  Kleon was able to commit many crimes undetected, and Brasidas performed many great exploits while the war lasted; wherefore, when both of these men fell before the walls of Amphipolis, Nikias, perceiving that the Spartans had long been desirous of peace, and that the Athenians no longer hoped to gain anything by continuing the war, and that both parties were weary of it, began to consider how he might reconcile them, and also pacify all the other states of Greece, so as to establish peace upon a durable and prosperous basis.  At Athens, the richer classes, the older men, and the country farmers all wished for peace.  By constantly arguing with the others he gradually made them less eager for war, and at length was able to intimate to the Spartans that there were good hopes of coming to terms.  They willingly believed him because of his high character for probity, and more especially because he had shown great kindness to the Spartan prisoners taken at Pylos.  A truce for one year had already been arranged between them, and during this they conversed freely with one another, and, enjoying a life of leisure and freedom from the restraints and alarms of war, began to long for an unbroken period of peace, and to sing: