On the recordc. 349 BC
It became a maxim in their politics, that the end justified the means.
Said by
Demosthenes
Source
gutenberg.orgDemosthenes: “It became a maxim in their politics, that the end justified the means.”
Editor's note · Context
From a speech criticizing the ruthless and opportunistic foreign policy of Sparta, highlighting their ethical failings.
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c. 349 BC
They say that you should keep quiet, though you are injured; but they can not themselves keep quiet among you, though no one injures them.
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He is convinced, you will not submit to be slaves; if you were inclined, you would not know how, having been accustomed to command: you will be able, should occasion offer, to give him more trouble than any people in the world.
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Such is the truth, spoken with perfect freedom, purely from good-will and for the best: not a speech fraught with flattery and mischief and deceit, to earn money for the speaker, and to put the commonwealth into the hands of our enemies.
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How is it equitable, that certain of these men, returned from prison, should not know themselves, while the state, that once protected all Greece and held the foremost place, is sunk in ignominy and humiliation?
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