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for I have been resolved from the beginning that it is the duty of every man in public life, if only he be a fair-minded citizen, so to feel toward all his fellow-citizens as children ought to feel toward their parents, and, while praying that he may find them perfectly reasonable, yet to bear with them in a spirit of kindliness as they areThis advice for children was possibly a commonplace. It is voiced by Epicurus, Vatican Collection 62.; because defeat under such circumstances is judged among right-minded men to be an honorable and befitting victory. Farewell.
On the Slanderous Attacks of Theramenes
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This letter is not cited in ancient authorities and there is less likelihood of its being genuine Demosthenes to the Council and the Assembly sends greeting.
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I hear that TheramenesThere is no known connection between this obscure man and the Theramenes who played a conspicuous role during the latter years of the Peloponnesian War. has uttered various slanderous statements concerning me and in particular that he taunts me with being ill-fated.The implication is that Demosthenes was an unlucky person who brought bad luck to the State. Deinarchus in his speech Against Demosthenes 31-33 (Din. 1.31-33) asserts that he also involved his collaborators in his own ill luck. It may he noted that Cicero, For the Manilian Law 10. 28, places felicitas on a par with scientia rei militaris, virtus, and auctoritas. Now I am not astonished that this man should be ignorant that abusive language, which demonstrates no vice on the part of the one against whom it is spoken, carries no weight with fair-minded people. For if one who in his way of life is insolent, by birth is not a citizen, and was reared from childhood in a brothel, had even a faint perception in such matters, it would be more unintelligible than complete ignorance.
