[46]
Of our present difficulties and of the existing
confusion the causes are many and of long standing, but if you are willing to
hear them, I am ready to speak. Men of Athens, you have deserted the post in which your ancestors left
you; you have been persuaded by politicians of this sort that to be paramount in
Greece, to possess a standing
force, and to help all the oppressed, is a superfluous task and an idle expense;
while you fondly imagined that to live in peace, to neglect all your duties, to
abandon all your possessions and let others seize them one by one, ensured
wonderful prosperity and complete security.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1930.
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