[148]
To contrast the two men, let us ask who
Meidias is and to whom he displayed his qualities. Do not then imagine that for
you, gentlemen, being the descendants of such ancestors, it would be in
accordance with justice or piety, to say nothing of honor, if, when you have
caught a rascally, violent bully, a mere nobody and son of nobody, you should
pronounce him deserving of pardon or pity or favour of any kind. For why should
you? Because of his services as general? But not even as a private soldier, much
less as a leader of others, is he worth anything at all. For his speeches then?
In his public speeches he never yet said a good word of anyone, and he speaks
ill of everyone in private.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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