[122]
And, while behaving like that, you treat us to your definition of all the
qualities proper to a patriotic politician—as though you had bespoken
a statue according to specification, and it had been delivered without the
qualities specified ! As though talk, not deeds and policy, were the criterion
of patriotism ! And then you raise your voice, like a clown at a carnival,1 and
pelt me with epithets both decent and obscene, suitable for yourself and your
kindred, but not for me.
1 like a clown at a carnival: lit., as from a wagon, in the procession at a Dionysiac festival, when coarse raillery was customary. A similar expression is used in Dem. 18.11 and Dem. 18.124.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by C. A. Vince, M. A. and J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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