
“Strike, if you will, but hear.”
As quoted in Familiar Quotations, 9th Edition (1894) edited by J. Bartlett, p. 723 http://books.google.com/books?id=pus-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA723
Originally quoted by Plutarch in [Themistocles] (11.3): (3) And when Eurybiades lifted up his staff as though to smite him, Themistocles said: ‘Smite, but hear me.’ Then Eurybiades was struck with admiration at his calmness, and bade him speak, and Themistocles tried to bring him back to his own position. (Bernadotte Perrin, Ed., via Perseus Project)
Original Greek http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg010.perseus-grc1:11.3: [3] ἐπαραμένου δὲ τὴν βακτηρίαν ὡς πατάξοντος, ὁ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἔφη: ‘πάταξον μέν, ἄκουσον δέ.’ θαυμάσαντος δὲ τὴν πρᾳότητα τοῦ Εὐρυβιάδου καὶ λέγειν κελεύσαντος, ὁ μὲν Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀνῆγεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον.