[11]
I for my part wonder why in the
world these men should imprison and punish those of the sailors who desert their
ships—men who receive only thirty drachmae apiece,—while you
do not deal in the same manner with those of the trierarchs who do not sail with
their ships yet receive thirty minae apiece for so doing; if a poor man through
stress of need commits a fault, is he to be liable to the severest penalties,
while, if a rich man does the same thing through shameful love of gain, is he to
win pardon? Where, then, is equality for all and popular government, if you
decide matters in this way?
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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