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[4]
That was why Solon ordained that the penalties for private
citizens should be slow, but for magistrates and political leaders swift,
assuming that from the former one can get satisfaction even after some delay,
but that one cannot wait for the latter, because there will be no prospect of
punishment if the constitution is destroyed. No one will be so impudent or so
pretentious that he will attempt to gainsay these principles, except
Aristogeiton here with his reckless wickedness. On the contrary we shall find
that, when once you have given an adverse verdict, all magistrates and all
statesmen accept them.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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