[125]
If we ought, though I say we ought not, to grant
such a favour to anyone, let it be even in the first instance to the man who has
never done us wrong; secondly, to the man who will never have the power, though
he have the will, to injure us; and finally the man who is known by everyone to
be seeking it for his own protection, and not in the hope of maltreating his
neighbors with impunity—it is to him truly that it should be given. I
will spare you the proof that Charidemus is neither a man void of offence
towards us, nor one who, for his own safety, tries to win your support; but I do
ask you to listen to me when I declare that he is not even one who can be
trusted for the future, and to consider carefully whether my argument is sound.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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