Should any man think that these are affairs of great expense and toil and difficulty, he thinks rightly enough: but let him consider what the consequences to Athens must be, if she refuse so to act, and he will find it is our interest to perform our duties cheerfully.
Demosthenes argues that while civic duties may be difficult, the consequences of neglecting them are far graver, making cheerful performance a matter of self-interest.
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But I suppose, you inherit a reputation from your father and grandfather, which it were disgraceful in your own person to extinguish, whereas the ancestry of the state was ignoble and mean.
Yea, among these men, some have risen rapidly from poverty to wealth, from meanness and obscurity to repute and honor, while you, on the contrary, have fallen from honor to obscurity, from wealth to indigence.
For the riches of a state I consider to be allies, confidence, good-will; of all which you are destitute.
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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