[63]
And this is an extraordinary thing: they make their living
by pettifoggery, yet they say they get nothing from the state, and, while they
possessed nothing before coming to you, now that they are well-to-do they do not
even feel grateful to you, but go about saying that the people are fickle and
surly and thankless, as if you prospered because of these men, and not they
because of the people! But after all it is natural for them to say this, when
they see how easy-going you are. For you have never punished any one of them in
the way his wickedness deserves, but you put up with their saying that the
safety of the democracy comes from those who bring indictments and baseless
actions; than whom no more pernicious class exists.
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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