[74]
I wish, however, to go back
farther and explain these matters to you in greater detail, that you may be more
careful in regard to the punishment, and may be assured that you are to cast
your votes, not only in the interest of your selves and the laws, but also in
the interest of reverence towards the gods, by exacting the penalty for acts of
impiety, and by punishing those who have done the wrong.In ancient times, men of Athens, there was sovereignty in our state,
and the kingship belonged to those who were from time to time preeminent by
reason of their being children of the soil, and the king offered all the
sacrifices, and those which were holiest and which none might name his wife
performed, as was natural, she being queen.
Demosthenes. 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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