[30]
Yet any one of
these proposals is less dangerous than if it were proposed that speakers should
belong to one of the classes to which the defendant
belongs—law-breakers, jail-birds, sons of criminals put to death by
the people, citizens disqualified after obtaining office by lot, public debtors,
men totally disfranchised, or men who by repute and in fact are utter rascals.
All these descriptions fit the defendant and apply to those who resemble him in
disposition. I think, men of Athens,
that he deserves death both for what he is doing now and much more, or at least
no less, for what he obviously will do, if he gets the power and opportunity
from you; which Heaven forfend!
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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