Plato, Laws 907c

τῶν κακῶν ἀνθρώπων· τούτου γε μὴν ἕνεκα, ὦ φίλε Κλεινία, πεφιλονίκηνται, μή ποτε λόγοις ἡγῶνται κρατοῦντες ἐξουσίαν εἶναι σφίσιν ἃ βούλονται πράττειν οἱ κακοί, ἃ δὴ καὶ ὅσα καὶ οἷα περὶ θεοὺς διανοοῦνται. προθυμία μὲν δὴ διὰ ταῦτα νεωτέρως εἰπεῖν ἡμῖν γέγονεν· εἰ δέ τι καὶ βραχὺ προὔργου πεποιήκαμεν εἰς τὸ πείθειν πῃ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἑαυτοὺς μὲν μισῆσαι, τὰ δʼ ἐναντία πως ἤθη στέρξαι, καλῶς ἡμῖν εἰρημένον

over those wicked men; and our desire for victory was due to our fear lest haply, if they gained the mastery in argument, they should suppose they had gained the right to act as they chose—those men who wickedly hold all those false notions about the gods. On this account we have been zealous to speak with special honor; and if we have produced any good effect, however small, in the way of persuading the men to hate themselves and to feel some love for an opposite kind of character, then our prelude to the laws respecting impiety