[47]
Of these examples not one worked out contrary
to reason1; for it would be much
stranger if we were obliged to achieve paltry ends through acquiring knowledge
and putting it into practice, but were capable of accomplishing the big things
without this effort.Now I do not know what call
there is to say more on these topics, for not even at the outset did I introduce
them because I assumed you were absolutely ignorant, but because I thought that
such exhortations both arouse those who lack knowledge and spur on those who
possess it;.2
1 With a difference of one word this sentence is found in Isoc. 4.150, as Blass notes. It looks, however, like a commonplace.
2 Writings that urged young men to study philosophy formed a distinct literary genre among the ancients under the name “protreptics.” The Epistle to Menoeceus of Epicurus is an extant example.
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.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.