[74]
Now I assert—and I earnestly
appeal to you, Athenians, not to take offence at what is coming, but to consider
whether it is true—I assert that in proportion as openness is better
than secrecy, and it is more honorable to gain one's end by victory than by
trickery, so Conon deserves more credit
than Themistocles for building the walls. For the latter achieved it by evading
those who would have prevented it, but the former by beating them in battle.
Therefore it is not right that so great a man should be wronged by you, or
should gain less than those orators who will try to prove that you ought to
deduct something from what was bestowed on him.
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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