No More Learning

WE cannot be quite certain about the year in which
Demosthenes was born. The accounts are conflicting,
and we are thrown back on somewhat doubtful infer-
ences. The year, it seems, must have been either 385-
384 B. 0. or 382-381 13. 0. His early life thus coincided
with an eventful period, and witnessed more than one
remarkable political change in the Greek world. In the
years immediately after his birth the supremacy of
Sparta was unquestioned. Greece lay at her feet.
Her power had n1ade itself felt far beyond the Pelo-
ponnese, even on the northern shores of the Zligean.
She had overthrown the city which might have become
an effectual bulwark against the terrible king of Mace-
don. Olynthus became her vassal in the year 379 13. 0.
All was changed eight years afterwards. The decisive
battle of Leuctra, in 371 13. 0. , struck down Sparta and
gave the ascendancy to Thebes. For a few years Greece
rcsounrled with the fame of her two illustrious citzens,
Epamcinondas and Pclopidas. But when she lost
Epameinondas, nine years after Leuctra, in the brilliant
victory of Mantincia. she lost with him the supreme
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? EARLY LIFE OF DE1l[OSTIIEA'E6'. > 23
control of Greek politics, retaining merely the foremost
rank among the northern states. Meanwhile she had
given, as we have seen, shelter and education to the
future destroyer of Greek freedom.
Amid these changes and revolutions, Demosthenes
grew up to manhood. His own state, Athens, had
achieved nothing specially worthy of record during
this period. Still, she was altogether the most famous
city of Greece, and was commercially prosperous. The
father of Demosthenes, who bore the same name, was
a rich and eminently respectable citizen. He was a
merchant and a manufacturer, and belonged to the
wealthy middle class. His property was distributed in
various investments. He had two manufactoriies, and
each, it seems, had a good business. One was a sword
and knife manufactory, and employed thirty-two slaves.
The other was a cfiipet manufactory, and in this
twenty slaves were elnployed. He had'also money
out at interest, a deposit account at one of the principal
banks, and sums lent, according to a very prevalent
Athenian practice, on ship-cargoes. He had, too, a
house of some value, and good furniture and plate;
and his wife was an heiress, and had her jewels on a
tolerably handsome scale. But the lady, whose name
was Cleobule, was not of pure Athenian blood, and
her birth and antecedents were not quite what could be
desired. Her father, Gylon, was a man of distinctly
blemished reputation. He had been, in fact, accused
of treason--the charge against him being that he had
betrayed to the enemy the seaport town of N ympheeum
in the Crimea. He did not appear to_ answer the
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? 24 DEMOSTHENES.
accusation, and was, according to one account, sentenced
to death in his absence. But he contrived to do well
for himself. He went to Panticapaeum, now Kertch,
in the Crimea, then the capital of the kings of Bos-
porus, and there, through the king's favour, obtained
a grant of land and married a rich wife. She was
snecringly spoken of at Athens as a barbarian and a
Scythian--and so Alschines describes her; but it is
quite possible that she may have been the daughter of
one of those many Greeks who had settled in this
remote district to carry on the business of exporting
corn to Athens. It was then, as now, a specially
corn-growing region. Gylon, it seems, made the most
of the king's favour, and traded with great success.
He was unquestionably a sharp, shrewd man; and he
sent his two daughters well dowered to Athens, and
there they both made fairly good matches. Both got
Athenian citizens for their husbands--the one marry-
ing Demochares, and the other the elder Demosthenes.
We may not unreasonably conjecture that the mother
of Demosthenes inherited some natural ability from her
sagacious and enterprising father.
It was the misfortune of Demosthenes to be left an
orphan when only seven years of age, and to fall into
the hands of unscrupulous guardians. His father died
worth fourteen talents,--about ? 3500 of our money.
This, according to modern notions, is a very moderate
property; but at Athens it was sufiiciently large to place.
its possessor in the wealthiest class, and to render him
liable to the highest rate of direct taxation. There
were much larger fortunes, no doubt, as that of N icias,
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? EARLY LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES. 25
which is said to have amounted to 100 talents, or about
? 24,000. Alcibiades was even richer; and Callias, who
lived at the time of the Persian war, and secured a
' good share of the plunder, was what we should call a
millionaire, being reported to have been worth 200
talents. Athens, as we have seen, was, of all the Greek
cities, by far the richest, and it always contained a
number of well-to-do citizens. The ordinary rate of
interest was extremely high. Money lent even on good
security fetched from 12 to 20 per cent ; and some in--
vestments, those especially on ship-cargoes--hazardous,
no doubt--were yet more lucrative. As much as 30
per cent was now and then paid on this class of invest-
ments. Demosthenes asserts, in his pleadings against
his guardians, that a third part of his estate produced
an income of fifty minas. This would make the
entire income about ? 600 a-year. Now, it appears that
a citizen could live just decently at Athens on some-
thing like seven or eight minas a-year, or about ? 32 ;
and in perfect comfort and respectability on fifty
minas, or about ? 200 a-year, provided he kept clear of
the various costly public services which were demanded
from the rich. Demosthenes, therefore, it is clear,
having but one sister, ought to have had a very ample
fortune, though he could not have been described as
extremely wealthy. His father, being in business,
probably got 25 or even 30 per cent for a large part
of his capital, and we should suppose that he was at
Athens in much the same position as a man with from
? 2000 to ? 3000 a-year would be with us. Had his
will been faithfully carried out, and a third of the
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? 26 >DEMOSTHENES.
income been set apart for maintenance and education,
and two-thirds profitably invested, the son must have
been decidedly rich when at the age of sixteen, ten
years after his father's death, he attained his majority.
As it was, he found himself comparatively poor.
He had to receive something less than two talents, and
his income could not have exceeded from ? 60 to ? 70
a-year. His father, we may surmise, had misgivings
about the administration of the property, as he practi-
cally endeavoured to bribe the three guardians, two of
whom were his nephews, into a faithful discharge of
_ their trust by giving them full control over almost one-
third of the property. His sister's son, Aphobus, was
to marry the widow, with a fair fortune, and to have
the house and furniture during the minority of Demos-
thenes. His brother's son, Demophon, was to have
two talents, and to marry the daughter in due time.
In all respects he seems to have carefully provided for
his two children, and to have left them in the charge
of relatives on whose fidelity he might reasonably
reckon. The result can be ascribed only to negligence
and dishonesty. The property must have been partly
muddled away, partly actually embezzled. Admitting
that some of the investments were precarious, and that
the business of the two manufactories was simply mis-
managed, we can hardly doubt that the trustees were
unprincipled as well as utterly careless. It is true, indeed,
' that1)em0sthenes was taunted by his rival Aischines with
having squandered his patrimony in ridiculous follies ;'
and it was alleged by one of the guardians, in defending
the action, that large advances had been made. The
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? EARLY LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES. 27
boy had, it would seem, rather luxurious tastes, and
in the last two years of his minority he may have
indulged them freely. But this very inadequately
explains the smallness of the sums handed over to him.
It is an all but absolute certainty that he was swindle'd
out of his property. The matter ended in his bringing
an action against Aphobus, and recovering a verdict
for ten talents. It is not certain whether he actually
received this amount. Aphobus was rich and influential,
and contrived to make fm-ther difficulties. We have
five speeches connected with this action--three against
Aphobus, and two against a brother-in-law of Aphobus,
Onetor. It is from these speeches that we chiefly get
our information about the property of Demosthenes.
We have not the means of knowing the precise results
of the suit, or what benefit, if any, Demosthenes de-
rived from it. Much of the estate had somehow or
other disappeared, and he had to enter on life as rather
a poor instead of a rich man.
It is probable that his misfortunes had a good effect
on his character, They may have been the source of his
intense resolution and perseverance. From early years
he had a weak constitution, and shrank from the vigor-
ous physical training which was considered an essential
element in a Greek education. He had an active
mind, and a strong craving for intellectual culture. As
became his position and expectations, he went to good
schools--though his guardians, if we may believe his
statement, were shabby enough to leave his school-fees
unpaid. He had a passion for speeches and recitations;
and it was said that he once induced his schoolmaster
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? 28 DEJIIOSTHENES.
to go with him to hear one of the first speakers of the
day, Callistratus, who was delivering a great political
harangue on the cession of the border-town Oropus to
the Thebans. The occasion may have been a turning-.
point in his life. But he had an unlucky infirmity; he,
who was to be the greatest orator of all time, stammered
in his boyhood and youth. It would seem as if his
physical defects were too much for his mental vigour
and his ambitious aspirations.
Plutarch in his 'Life of Demosthenes' gives us several
interesting details about his study and preparation for
the career of an orator, and it is satisfactory to find
that so high an authority as Mr Grote thinks that they
rest on good evidence. It appears that the youth put
himself under the instruction of Isaeus, one of the first
advocates of the time, who was frequently retained in
cases connected with wills and disputes about property.
In his speeches against his guardians he is said to have
availed himself of the counsel and guidance of this
eminent lawyer. But the most fashionable rhetoric-
professor of the day was Isocrates, and Demosthenes
was among the number of his most attentive and ad-
miring hearers; though perhaps we must not believe a
story according to which he asked the great man to
teach him a fifth part_ of his art for two minas, as he
could not afford the regular fee of ten minas, about
? 40, to learn the whole. One would like to believe
that he heard and admired some of the discourses of
Plato, who was then in the height of his philosophical
glory; and there is a tradition, mentioned by Cicero
and Tacitus, to this effect. The literary styles of the
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? EARLY LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES. 29
two men are no doubt very diverse; yet,' as Dr Thirl-
>wall suggests, it is not wholly improbable that the
lofty morality which Demosthenes ventured to intro-
duce into speeches addressed to Athenian assemblies
and law courts may have been inspired by the philo-
sopher. That he was a devoted student of the great
'History of Thucydides, that he copied it out eight times,
and almost'. knew it by heart, we may well believe.
One of the ancient critics, Dionysius of Halycarnassus,
has elaborately pointed out resemblances in the orator
to the historian. Strangely enough Cicero, in his
_Orator,* asks the question, "What Greek orator ever'
borrowed anything from Thucydides T " We really fail
to see the point of this question, unless he meant to
limit the term orator to a mere pleader, and even then
we think he is wrong. But for the purpose of political
oratory there cannot be a doubt that both the style and
matter of Thucydides might be studied with infinite'
profit by a man of real capacity.
Nothing but the utmost energy and perseverance
'would have enabled Demosthenes to make himself an
orator. He had, as already said, to surmount the
actual physical difliculties of a feeble constitution. and
of some defect in his organs of speech. His ultimate
success was a decisive proof of a singularly exceptional
force of character. It is for this, indeed, as exhibited
throughout his whole career, that he specially deserves
admiration. We are told that he practised speaking
with pebbles in his mouth; that he strengthened his
lungs and his voice by reciting as he ran up hill 5 that
" Chapter ix.
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? 30 DEAIOSTHENES.
he declaimed on the seashore amid the noise of waves
and storms. He would even pass two or three months
continuously in a subterranean cell, shaving one side
of his head, that he might not be able to show himself
>in public, to the interruption of his rhetorical exercises.
But all this patient and laborious practice did not
procure immediate success. No public assembly could
be more critical and fastidious than that of Athens.
Demosthenes failed repeatedly. One of the old citizens
found him on one of these occasions wandering about
disconsolately in the Piraeus, and tried to cheer him
up by saying, " You have a way of speaking which re-
minds me of Pericles, but you lose yourself through mere
timidity and cowardice. " Another time he was return-
ing to his home in deep dejection, when Satyrus, a great
and popular actor, with whom he was well acquainted,
entered into conversation with him. Demosthenes
complained that though he was the most painstaking
of all the orators, and had almost sacrificed his health
to his intense application, yet he could find no favour
with the people, and that drunken seamen and other
illiterate persons were listened to in preference to him-
self. "True," replied the actor, " but I will provide
you a remedy if you will repeat to me some speech in
Euripides or Sophocles. " Demosthenes did so, and then
Satyrus recited the same speech in such a manner that
it seemed to the orator quite a different passage. With
the aid of such hints, joined to his own indefatigable
industry, he at last achieved a distinct success in the
law courts, and his services as an advocate were in
great request. _
.
After all, he had not much of which, according to
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? EARLY LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES. 31
our notions, a man could feasonably complain. Suc-
cess came to him very early in life. He was, as we
should say, in large practice at the bar when he was
considerably under thirty--an age at which a young
English barrister hardly hopes for a brief. Doubtless,
at Athens there were opportunities for displaying ora-
torical ability which do not exist in England. One
thoroughly successful speech before the popular assem-
bly might well make the fortune of a man as an advo-
cate. To make such a speech required, we may be sure,
marked ability and considerable training; but once
made, it must at least have opened a career in the law
courts. Athenian law, too, was probably less intricate
and diflicult than English. It had not such a variety
of branches, as seem to be indispensable in so complex
a community as our own. The study of it must thus
have been a much_,less _ard. ueus>>. task than that which
lies before the English lawyer. But it was an admir-
able preparation for political life. Law and politics
werc;in_te@glfad__at_ Athens - very much more than
among ourselves I; and a lawyer was almost necessarily
something of a politician. There, questions which we
regard as purely political, and which would be dis-
cussed with us only in Parliament, might come before
a law court. An accusation, for instance, might be
preferred against a man for proposing a law or a decree
quite at variance with the spirit of the constitution.
Such cases were frequent. It was in a prosecution of
this nature that Demosthenes, who for some few years
had had a good practice as a barrister in civil and
criminal causes, made what we may fairly call his first
appearance as a political adviser.
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? C H A P T E R IV.
DEMOSTHENES surses POLITICAL LIFE.
IN all democracies much will be expected from the rich.
This was the rule in the Greek states, and especially
at Athens. There the constitution demanded a certain
amount of public spirit, and prescribed various modes
in which it was to display itself. Athenians loved a
bright joyous life, and the wealthier of them were
under legal obligations to minister to the popular tastes
and contribute to the public amusements. There was
a good side to all this. It made the rich feel that they
must not use their riches merely for their own selfish en-
joyment, but that it ought to be the glory of an Athe-
nian citizen of fortune to put happiness and refinement
within the reach of every member of the community.
Pericles, in the famous funeral oration, the substance of
which Thucydides has given us, had boasted how it was
=the peculiar genius of Athens to combine mirthfulness
and gaiety with a strong sense of political responsibility.
Poetry and music were an essential part of an Athe- '
nian's life. They were intimately connected with all
the religious festivals. With us the pleasures of the
opera are necessarily confined to a select few. ' At
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? DEM OSTH ENES ENTERS POLITIOA L LIFE. 33
Athens the poorest citizen was enabled to gratify his
taste for such pleasures. The law imposed on a man
with a certain amount of property the liability of hav-
ing to provide a chorus of singers or musicians on some
great public occasion. He had to bear all the expenses
himself. Having made up his number, he had to ob-
tain a teacher or choir-master, and to pay him for his
instruction. He had also, it seems, to board and lodge
the chorus during the time of its training, and he had,
further, to furnish them with suitable dresses. All
this, of course, he could do by deputy; but if he was
anxious, as he usually would be, to do it with credit to
himself, he would find that he must give the matter
his personal attention. There was a prize for the best
' performance; and this, if not intrinsically valuable,
was sure to be coveted. The choragus, as he was
called, had a stall assigned him in the theatre, and it
was part of his duty to be present during the cere-
mony with his crown and robe of office. There seems
to have been every variety of chorus--tragic and comic
choruses, pyrrhic choruses, and choruses of flute-players.
The expense of providing them might range from ? 100
to . ? l200--a large sum in comparison with Athenian
wealth. Still thisflamount was, it appears, often ex-
ceeded in an eager competition for the prize. The
successful choragus was certain to be a popular citizen.
This, then, was one of the regular charges on the
wealthier class. There were others. Athleticism and
gymnastic games were a prominent feature in Greek
life. At Athens one of the amusements in which they
specially delighted was running with the torch, the
. a. c. s. s. vol. iv. 0
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? 34 DEMOSTHENES.
runners carrying wax lights_ in their hands, which it
was their object not to extinguish. The race in the
time of Socrates began to be run on horseback, and
the training and preparation for it became one of
the public services, which the rich had to undertake.
The gymnasiarch, or director of these games, had to
defray all the expenses connected with the spectacle;
he had to see to and to pay for the training of the
competitors, which was on a very elaborate scale, and
might involve a comparatively heavy outlay. Another
still more burdensome obligation was the conduct of
religious embassies to various places. This was re-
garded as a duty of the highest and most sacred kind ;
and whenever the State sent out a special commission
to any of the ancient seats of Greek worship, such as
Delos or Delphi, to consult the oracle of the god or to
offer a solemn sacrifice, it was represented by citizens
of wealth and distinction. Anything like parsimony
on such an occasion would have been thought pecu-
liarly discreditable, and it was the tendency of an
Athenian to go to the opposite extreme. The head of
the sacred mission entered the city whither he was
bound with a crown of gold and in a splendidly equip-
pedchariot. Alcibiades astonished the Greek world
at the Olympic festival with his magnificent horses
and his princely expenditure. Even in an ordinary
way, however, the performance of this duty must have
been a costly service. A minor expense was that of
giving a public dinner to the particular tribe of which
a man was a member. This too was a burden im-
nosed on the rich. Last of all came the obligation to
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? D|EllOSTHENES ENTERS POLITICAL LIFE. 35
maintain the fleet in efiiciency,--Athens' defence and
glory. This--the trierarchy, as it was called--was a
service of which we are continually hearing in the
speeches of Demosthenes, and to place it on a satis-
factory footing was an object he had specially at heart.
All these services, it must be understood, were legally
compulsory--not merely enforced on the rich by public
opinion, as in our time. At Athens, no citizen who
was registered as the possessor of a certain amount of
property could evade them. A man in England may
be obliged to serve the ofiice of sheriff once in a way,
but to try to create public spirit by law would be
repugnant to our notions. In a Greek state there was
a much more distinct theory as to what each citizen
owed to the commonwealth; and Athens, the very
type of Greek democracy, felt it most natural to make
these demands on her richer classes. At the same
time, she had thought fit to exempt certain persons from
the operation of this principle. There were a few
whose meritorious services might be fairly considered
to have earned them such an exemption--the trierarchy
alone excepted The privilege in some cases was ex-
tended to their descendants. Two names were cherished
at Athens with peculiarly grateful remembrance, those
of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the illustrious tyran-
nicides, who were believed to have given freedom and
equality to their city. To their offspring for ever was
granted immunity from the public burdens we have
just described. In like manner, a statesman or a
general who had deserved well of his country might
be rewarded with the same privilege for himself and
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? 36 DEMOSTHENES.
his children. With us such men occasionally obtain
pensions, which, in a few instances, are continued to
their descendants. With the Athenians, they enjoyed
what was perhaps almost an equivalent--exemption
from costly and burdensome services.
It is easy to see that many abuses might creep into
this system; and that even without any very glaring
abuses, there might be much envy and dissatisfaction.
Privileges of any kind are sure to give offence, and in
a democratical community they cannot fail to furnish a
handle to demagogues and politicians. We are there-
fore not surprised to find that at Athens in 356 no. a
law was proposed and carried repealing all exemptions
and immunities. The author of the law was a certain
Leptines, who was no doubt put forward as the spokes-
man of a considerable party. He contrived to get a
measure of a very sweeping kind passed, so that not
only were_ all existing grants of immunity abolished,
but it was declared illegal to make such grants in the
future, and even to ask for them was forbidden under
a heavy penalty. We do not know whether there was
any special impulse or provocation under which the
people of Athens allowed themselves to be persuaded
into passing this law. It roused, of course, a strong
opposition, the leader of which was ason of the famous
Ohabrias, Who had fallen in his country's cause, fighting
on bb? d his ship at the siege of Chios. The son had
inherited from his father one of these honourable grants
of immunity. He was, it seems, himself utterly un-
worthy of it ; but he represented a principle, and had,
we may be sure, a numerous following. Demosthenes
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? DEMOSTHENES ENTERS POLITICAL LIFE. 37
became his advocate, and in the year subsequent to
the passing of the law, he assailed it in a speech which
has always been much admired.
This was his first political effort. He was quite a
young man at the time--thirty years of age at most,
probably less. The speech he delivered does not
exhibit the fire and force of some of his subsequent
orations; it is calm and argumentative, and deserves
the e ithet_Q_" subtle" which Cicero* applies to it.
It is in fact a specimen throughout of close and con-
secutive reasoning Leptines' proposal was no doubt
popular, and was supported by many plausible argu-
ments. The circumstances of the State were such as
made any exemptions and immunities 'from public
burdens of very questionable expediency. Athens had
been seriously impoverished by her recent disastrous
war with her allies, and many of her richer citizens
must, for a time at least, have been sorely straitened
in their resources. To exempt such wealthy men from
burdens which there was not too much wealth left to
bear, might well seem a distinct loss to the State. It
increased the difliculty of providing for those public
festivals which were so dear to the people. It could
also no doubt be plausibly argued that exemptions had
been granted too freely, and now and then to thoroughly
unworthy persons. Many a man not particularly rich
would think himself aggrieved, when he saw some one
far richer than himself altogether exempt. The favoured
few were sure to be envied, and might almost be said
to be defrauding the State of what they owed it. The
* Orator, c. xxxi.
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? 38 _ DEMOSTHENES.
object, in fact, of the law of Leptines was, it might be
contended, to insure for Athens the due performance of
services which she had a right to claim from every citizen
of ample means. The burden, he argued, ought to fall
on all such ; no exemptions ought to be granted, as it
was likely they would be granted unwisely, and the
examples of other states, such as Sparta and Thebes,
showed that these grants were unnecessary. Besides,
merit at Athens was rewarded in other ways; and in
sweeping away such rewards as these, they would be
really abolishing what was not needed by the posses-
sors, and was at the same time injurious to the State.
Thus the new law seemed on the surface a good one,
and must have enlisted popular sympathy. It promised
to get rid of invidious privileges, to distribute public
burdens equitably, and to provide for the celebration
of the festivals and games with becoming splendour.
The occasion was thus clearly one to task all the
powers of an opposition speaker. If we want a
modern analogy, we may suppose a motion brought
forward in the House of Commons in a time of
national distress, when every tax would be acutely
felt, to abolish all pensions ever granted to deserving
men and to their children. It is conceivable that such
a proposition might find supporters at a trying crisis,
and become a powerful party-cry. Demosthenes may
well have had an uphill battle to fight. But he took
the right ground, and rested his case on the highest
moral principles and the most enlightened view of
political expediency. The faith and honour of the
State, he maintained, must be superior to all other
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-27 04:55 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/coo. 31924026456347 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? DEMOSTHENES ENTERS POLITICAL LIFE. 39
considerations. We may say that the text of his
speech was--" A good name is better than riches. "
First, he argued that it was unjust to deprive the
people of the power to grant special privileges because
they had sometimes granted them improperly.
" You might as well take from them all their constitu-
tional rights because they dof not always exercise them
wisely. Even if a few undeserving persons received these
privileges, this was better than that none should be con-
ferred, and that a powerful encouragement to patriotism
should be withdrawn. To revoke gifts which the State
had bestowed would be a scandalous breach of the
national faith. It would cast a slur on democratic
government, and create an impression that such govern-
ments were as little to be trusted as those of oligarchs
and despots. It would be base ingratitude to many
distinguished foreigners--for example, to the king of
Bosporus, from whose country much corn was exported
to Athens, free of duty--and such men for the future
would not care to befriend the State in a time of need.