But since these orators have appeared, who ask, What is your pleasure? what shall I move? how can I oblige you? the public welfare is complimented away for a moment's popularity, and these are the results; the orators thrive, you are disgraced.
Demosthenes laments the rise of populist orators who prioritize their own popularity by telling the people what they want to hear, leading to the state's decline.
Share
More from Demosthenes
And surely we must suppose, that Paeonians and Illyrians, and all such people, would rather be free and independent than under subjection; for they are unused to obedience, and the man is a tyrant.
It must then be our care, Athenians, that we are not more unkind to ourselves than circumstances have been; as it would be a foul, a most foul reproach, to have abandoned not only cities and places that once belonged to us, but also the…
For I have been taught both by hearsay and experience, that most of your advantages have escaped you, from unwillingness to do your duty, not from ignorance.
When this has been secured, one may look out for revenge on Philip; but before we lay the foundation right, I deem it idle to talk about the end.
Other voices in this conversation
