[131]
Again,1 perhaps they will say in their haphazard2 style that some citizens, by claiming to be Megarians and
Messenians,3 at once
gain immunity, whole crowds at a time, to say nothing of slaves and jailbirds
like Lycidas and Dionysius; such are the examples they select. When they hold
such language, deal with them thus. Tell them, if they are speaking the truth,
to produce the decrees which contain these men's immunity; for no one in your
city enjoys immunity unless granted by some decree or law.
1 They assert that many aliens have received immunity; he challenges them to produce the decrees conferring it. He admits that many undeserving aliens have been made proxenoi （in the honorary sense explained in note on Dem. 20.60）, but this distinction does not confer immunity.
2 Literally, trailing the robe; hence slovenly, slipshod.
3 There is no record of any general exemption granted to these two peoples. If Weil's conjecture is right, translate "certain M. and M., by claiming to be Friends of the State."
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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