3
not because from this quarter opportunity was offering to secure gifts and emoluments, since all such prizes were coming from the opposite party,The Macedonians. nor yet because he observed this policy to be the safer one, since there were many manifest dangers which a man was bound to incur who chose to speak on behalf of the people, but because he was truly democratic and by nature an honest man.
4
And yet before his very eyes he observed those who might have assisted the cause of the people growing weak with the drift of events and their adversaries gaining strength in every way. None the less for all that, this brave man continued to adhere to such measures as he thought were in the people’s interest and subsequently he continued to perform his duty unfalteringly in word and deed, as was clear to see. As a consequence his surrender was straightway demanded,The surrender of Lycurgus, along with that of Demosthenes and others, was demanded after the fall of Thebes in 335 B.C. Alexander was persuaded by the Athenian orator Demades to relent. as all men are aware.
5
Now I would have written this letter, as I said at the outset, for the sake of Lycurgus alone, but over and above that, believing it to be to your interest to know the criticisms being circulated among those who go abroad, I became all the more eager to dispatch the letter. I beg of those who for private reasons were at odds with Lycurgus to endure to hear what in truth and justice may be said in his behalf; for be well assured, men of Athens, that, as things now are, the city is acquiring an evil reputation because of the way his sons have been treated.
