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These then are the views which I hold regarding educated men. As to the poetry of Homer and Hesiod and the rest, I would fain speak—for I think that I could silence those who chant their verses and prate about these poets in the Lyceum—but I perceive that I am being carried beyond the due limits which have been assigned to an introduction;
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and it behoves a man of taste not to indulge his resourcefulness, when he has more to say on a given subject than the other speakers, but to preserve always the element of timeliness no matter on what subject he may have occasion to speak—a principle which I must observe. Therefore I shall speak on the poets at another timeA promise not fulfilled. provided that my age does not first carry me off and that I do not have something to say on subjects more important than this.
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I shall now proceed to discourse upon the benefactions of Athens to the Hellenes, not that I have not sung the praises of our city more than all others put together who have written in poetry or prose.Cf. Isoc. 15.168. I shall not speak, however, as on former occasions; for then I celebrated Athens incidentally to other matters, whereas now Athens herself shall be my theme.