[106]
In heaven's name, tell me this. If
Cersobleptes attacks us,—and he is more likely than not to do so, when
he has the power,—shall we not have recourse to those kings? Shall we
not try to reduce him through them? Very well; then suppose they reply:
“Athenians, so far from helping us when we were ill-treated, you made
us grievously afraid of defending ourselves, for you issued a decree that anyone
who should kill the man who was working against your interests and ours alike,
should be liable to seizure. Therefore you have no right to call upon us to help
you in a matter which you mismanaged for us as well as for
yourselves.” Tell me this, I say: will not they have the best of the
argument? I think so.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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