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On the Slanderous Attacks of Theramenes

1 Demosthenes to the Council and the Assembly sends greeting.

I hear that Theramenes2 has uttered various slanderous statements concerning me and in particular that he taunts me with being ill-fated.3 Now I am not astonished that this man should be ignorant that abusive language, which demonstrates no vice on the part of the one against whom it is spoken, carries no weight with fair-minded people. For if one who in his way of life is insolent, by birth is not a citizen, and was reared from childhood in a brothel, had even a faint perception in such matters, it would be more unintelligible than complete ignorance. [2] As for this man, If some day I return and am restored to my rights, I shall plan to have a talk with him about the drunken abuse he directs at me and at you, and I believe that, even if he is devoid of shame, I shall render him more self-restrained. To you, however, in the interest of the common good, I wish to make known by letter what statements I have to make about these matters. Listen to my words with all attention, for I think they are not only worth hearing but also worth remembering.

1 This letter is not cited in ancient authorities and there is less likelihood of its being genuine

2 There is no known connection between this obscure man and the Theramenes who played a conspicuous role during the latter years of the Peloponnesian War.

3 The implication is that Demosthenes was an unlucky person who brought bad luck to the State. Deinarchus in his speech Against Demosthenes 31-33 （Din. 1.31-33） asserts that he also involved his collaborators in his own ill luck. It may he noted that Cicero, For the Manilian Law 10. 28, places felicitas on a par with scientia rei militaris, virtus, and auctoritas.

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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