[142]
Now there
were two men in Lampsacus, one named
Thersagoras and the other Execestus, who had formed views about tyranny very
much like those that prevail here. These men put Philiscus to death, as he
deserved, because they felt it their duty to liberate their own fatherland. Now
suppose that one of those orators who spoke on behalf of Philiscus, at a time
when he was paymaster of the mercenaries at Perinthus, when he held all the
Hellespont, and was the most
powerful of viceroys, had then, like Aristocrates today, moved a resolution that
whosoever killed Philiscus should be liable to seizure in allied territory. I
entreat you to reflect upon the depth of ignominy to which our city would have
fallen.
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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