[20]
Now
touching your admirers, if it is right to speak also of these, you seem to me to
deport yourself so admirably and sensibly toward them, that, though most of them
cannot be patient even with the object of their preference, you succeed in
pleasing them all exceedingly. And this is a most unmistakable proof of your
goodness; for not one finds himself disappointed of favors from you which it is
just and fair to ask, but no one is permitted even to hope for such liberties as
lead to shame. So great is the latitude your discreetness permits to those who
have the best intentions; so great is the discouragement it presents to those
who would fling off restraint.
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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