| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 18.243 | Dem. 18.252 (Greek) | >>Dem. 18.262 |
18.249Then the men who made it their business to injure me formed a cabal, and set in motion all the machinery of indictments, audits, impeachments, and the like—not at first by their own agency, but employing persons by whom they imagined they would be screened. You will remember how, during that early period, I was put on my trial every day; and how the recklessness of Sosicles, and the spite of Philocrates, and the frenzy of Diondas and Melantus, and everything else, were turned to account by them for my detriment. Nevertheless, by the favor, first of the gods, and secondly of you and the rest of the Athenians, I came through unscathed. And so I deserved. Yes; that is true, and to the credit of juries that had taken the oath and gave judgement according to their oath.
18.250When, on my impeachment, you acquitted me, and did not give the prosecutors the fifth part of your votes, your verdict implied approval of my policy. When I was indicted, I satisfied you that my proposals and my speeches had been constitutional. When you put the seal on my accounts, you further admitted that I had done my business honestly and without corruption. That being so, what description could Ctesiphon properly and honestly have applied to my conduct, other than that which he had seen applied by the whole nation and by sworn juries, and confirmed by the truth in the eyes of all men?
Athens , so far as Aeschines is concerned, I can repeat that glorious boast: for he never indicted me or prosecuted me on indictment; and so, by his own admission, I am no worse a citizen than Cephalus.
Athens , that my discourse on fortune will be more veracious, and more suitable to a mere man, than his.
18.253I attribute good fortune to our city, and so, I observe, does the oracle of Zeus at Dodona ; but the present fortune of all mankind I account grievous and distressing. Is there a man living, Greek or barbarian, who has not in these days undergone many evils?
18.254I reckon it as part of the good fortune of Athens that she has chosen the noblest policy, and that she is better off than the Greeks who expected prosperity from their betrayal of us. If she has been unsuccessful, if everything has not fallen out as we desired, I regard that as our appointed share in the general ill-fortune of mankind.
18.255My personal fortune, or that of any man among you, must, I imagine, be estimated in the light of his private circumstances. That is my view of fortune: a just and correct view, as it seems to me, and, I think, also to you. But he declares that a poor, insignificant thing like my individual fortune has been more powerful than the great and good fortune of Athens . Now how is that possible?
18.251Ah, says he, but look at that glorious boast of Cephalus—never once indicted! Yes, glorious, and also lucky. But why should a man who has been often indicted but never convicted be the more justly open to reproach? However, men of
18.252At every point his morose and spiteful temper is conspicuous, and especially in what he said about fortune. As a general remark, I must say that it is a stupid thing for any human being to reproach his brother man on the score of fortune. Seeing that a man who thinks he is doing very well and regards himself as highly fortunate, is never certain that his good fortune will last till the evening, how can it be right to boast about it, or use it to insult other people? But, since Aeschines has treated this topic, like many others, so vaingloriously, I beg you to observe, men of
18.256If, Aeschines, you are determined at all costs to investigate my fortune, compare it with your own; and, should you find mine to be better than yours, stop your vilification. Begin your inquiry then at the beginning. And I beg earnestly that no one will blame me for want of generosity. No sensible man, in my judgement, ever turns poverty into a reproach, or prides himself on having been nurtured in affluence. But I am compelled by this troublesome man's scurrility and backbiting to deal with these topics; and I will treat them with as much modesty as the state of the case permits.
18.257In my boyhood, Aeschines, I had the advantage of attending respectable schools: and my means were sufficient for one who was not to be driven by poverty into disreputable occupations. When I had come of age, my circumstances were in accordance with my upbringing. I was in a position to provide a chorus, to pay for a war-galley, and to be assessed to property-tax. I renounced no honor able ambition either in public or in private life: and rendered good service both to the commonwealth and to my own friends. When I decided to take part in public affairs, the political services I chose were such that I was repeatedly decorated both by my own country and by many other Grecian cities and even my enemies, such as you, never ventured to say that my choice was other than honor able. 18.258Such has been my fortune throughout my career. I could tell you more, but I forbear, fearing to weary you with details in which I take some pride.
But do you—you who are so proud and so contemptuous of others— compare your fortune with mine. In your childhood you were reared in abject poverty. You helped your father in the drudgery of a grammar-school, grinding the ink, sponging the benches, and sweeping the school-room, holding the position of a menial, not of a free-born boy.
| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 18.243 | Dem. 18.252 (Greek) | >>Dem. 18.262 |
