[107]
What, then, are those honors? Not to take each
singly, I will describe one which comprises all the rest. Whenever a man for his
good conduct is elected to the Senate, or Gerusia, as they call it, he is
absolute master of the mass of citizens. For at Sparta the prize of merit is to share with one's peers the
supremacy in the State; but with us the people is supreme, and any other form of
supremacy is forbidden by imprecations1 and laws and other safeguards,
but we have crowns of honor and immunities and free maintenance and similar
rewards, which anyone may win, if he is a good citizen.
1 At the opening of every meeting of the Assembly and of the Council a herald recited a curse on enemies of the State and on evil counsellors; see Dem. 19.70.
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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