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It would be the righteous thing, men of Athens, for you to feel the same anger toward those who attempt to deceive
you as toward those who have been able to do so. For what it was in the power of these men
to do has been done, and they led you along. That these designs have fallen short of
success, credit is due to Fortune and to the fact that you are now wiser than when you
were misled by these men. Yet the State, I believe, is so far from being able to exact
justice of the wrongdoers, that it seems to me you must content yourselves if you shall be
able to avoid sustaining loss; so formidable are the trickeries and chicaneries and, not
to particularize, certain salaried public services1 that have been organized
against you. To denounce the villainy of these men, however, would not at this juncture be
most opportune: but I do wish to say what I deem advantageous with reference to the
matters I have risen to discuss.
1 The word ὑπηρεσίαι denotes services to which pay was attached; in all such the people took an avid interest, leaving unpaid offices to the wealthy: see Dem. Ex. 55.3 and the Xen. Const. Ath. 3. These could readily be made channels of financial corruption. For λῃτουργίαι, services for which the performer himself paid, see Dem. Ex. 48 and Dem. L. 2.12, and notes.
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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