[2]
For my own part, I shall
forbear to retort that it is unjust to take away this privilege from all because
you find fault with some; for that objection has already been partially
stated,1 and you probably realize its force. But I should like to ask
Leptines on what grounds, even if not some, but all the recipients had been to
the last degree undeserving, he has meted out the same treatment to you as to
them; for by the clause "none shall be exempt" he has taken away the privilege
from those who now enjoy it, while by the addition "nor shall it be lawful
hereafter to grant it" he takes away from you the right to bestow it. For surely
he cannot mean that precisely as he thought the holders of this privilege
unworthy, so he thought the people unworthy of the right to dispense its own
favors to whomsoever it wishes.
1 By the previous speaker, Phormio.
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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