[3]
Never was
there a crisis that demanded more careful handling than the present. But the
difficulty lies, I think, not in proposing a plan to meet the case: what puzzles
me, men of Athens, is how to put it
before you. For what I have seen and heard convinces me that most of your
chances have escaped us rather from a disinclination to do our duty than from a
failure to understand it. I must ask you to bear with me if I speak frankly,
considering only whether I am speaking the truth, and speaking with the object
that things may go better in the future; for you see how the popularity-hunting
of some of our orators has led us into this desperate predicament.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1930.
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