[23]
Stop there. You
have heard the statute, men of Athens, and you have also heard the decree. Let me tell you how
you will more readily grasp the arguments on the question of illegality.
Consider the status of the person in whose favour the decree has been proposed:
is he an alien, a resident alien, or a citizen? If we call him a resident alien,
we shall not be telling the truth; and if we call him an alien, we shall be
doing him wrong, for it is only fair to him to admit the validity of that grace
of the people by which he was made a citizen. It seems, then, that we must treat
him as a citizen in our arguments.
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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