in the case of Demosthenes, too, it was common report, and not his nurse, that gave him his nickname; and well did common report name him Batalus, for his effeminacy and lewdness! For, Demosthenes, if anyone should strip off those exquisite, pretty mantle of yours, and the soft, pretty shirts that you wear while you are writing your speeches against your friends,1 and should pass them around among the jurors, I think, unless they were informed beforehand, they would be quite at a loss to say whether they had in their hands the clothing of a man or of a woman!
1 Writing speeches against his former friends is as brave an act as Demosthenes is capable of, and the only armor that he knows or needs is his soft shirt! Aeschines is smarting under the fact that Demosthenes, who, in the beginning of the negotiations with Philip for peace, had been on good terms with himself, has now caused his indictment for treason, and will shortly conduct the prosecution in court.
Aeschines. Aeschines with an English translation by Charles Darwin Adams, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1919.
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