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.
From a speech criticizing the state of Athenian affairs, Demosthenes contrasts the rise of corrupt individuals with the decline of the commonwealth.
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As, therefore, by such means he rose, when every people imagined he would advance their interest, so ought he by the same means to be pulled down again, when the selfish aim of his whole policy is exposed.
The present juncture, Athenians, all but proclaims aloud, that you must yourselves take these affairs in hand, if you care for their success.
Our numerous losses in war may justly be charged to our own negligence; but that they happened not long ago, and that an alliance, to counterbalance them, is open to our acceptance, I must regard as manifestations of divine favor.
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