[43]
On my part, men of the jury, I was led to reflect what gain there is in a life
molded to serve one's ends.1 For it seemed to me that I was
suffering this treatment because I was despised as one who lived a simple and
natural life, and that I was paying a heavy penalty in having to submit to
this.However, to prove that I was compelled
to give a counter-challenge contrary to what I thought was right, that I offered
to give up the slave, and that I am speaking the truth in this, read the
challenge.“
Challenge
”
1 His own desire to live simply and naturally had caused him to be imposed upon, and to be despised as one lacking in spirit. The passage is variously interpreted, and the text is uncertain. The MSS. have καταπεπλῆχθαι, which yields no satisfactory sense, unless with Wolf we insert the negative μή. The meaning in that case would be that a life of ruthless self-assertion is a “great gain.”
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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