[50]
of his astuteness in the recovery
of Salamis, and of general sagacity in the laws which the majority of the Greeks
continue using to this day. Yet in spite of these great claims to distinction he
set his heart upon nothing as much as becoming one of the Seven Sages,1 believing that
philosophy was no reproach but that it brought honor to those who pursued it,
having been no less wise in this very judgement than in the others in which he
showed himself superior.
1 This statement is absurd. The legend of the Seven Sages became current only in the fourth century: Plat. Prot. 343a. In Isoc. 15.235 also Solon is called “one of the seven sophists.” Originally this term suggested no disrespect.
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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