[208]
But today every man who takes part in public life enjoys
such superfluity of wealth that some of them have built private dwelling-houses
more magnificent than many public buildings; and others have bought larger
estates than all you people in this court possess between you; while, as for the
public buildings that you put up and whitewash, I am ashamed to say how mean and
shabby they are. Can you name anything that you have acquired and that you will
bequeath to posterity, as they bequeathed the Chersonesus, and Amphipolis, and the glory of noble exploits? That glory
citizens like these are squandering as fast as they can,—but they
cannot annihilate it, men of Athens;
and we know why.
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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