On the recordc. 349 BC
This work belongs to you: this privilege your ancestors bequeathed to you, the prize of many perilous exertions.
Said by
Demosthenes
Source
gutenberg.orgDemosthenes: “This work belongs to you: this privilege your ancestors bequeathed to you, the prize of many perilous exertions.”
Editor's note · Context
Demosthenes reminds the Athenians of their historical legacy and the responsibility that comes with it, urging them to defend their freedom.
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c. 349 BC
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.
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.
c. 349 BC
If we admitted the truth of what would be your best possible answer, namely, that all you do is for honor and renown, I wonder what puts it into your head, that you ought from such motives to exert yourself and undergo toil and danger…
c. 349 BC
For this reason he will show us no mercy, if he get us into his power: and therefore you must make up your minds, that the struggle will be one for life and death.
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