1 Those who praise your forefathers, men of Athens, in my judgement choose a charming theme upon
which to speak, and yet I do not think they do a favour to those whom they extol. For
instance, when they undertake to tell of the deeds of those men, to which no speaker could
do justice, while winning for themselves a reputation for ability to speak, they cause the
valor of those men to seem to their hearers less than had been supposed. As for me, I
consider the greatest commendation of those heroes to be the test of time, for although a
long interval has gone by, no others have been able to exhibit greater deeds than those
performed by them,