35
In a word, without increasing or lessening our expenditure by more than a trifle, I claim to have removed anomalies and introduced order into the state, establishing a uniform system of pay and of service, whether in the field or in the law-courts or wherever each man finds a task suited to his own age and to the needs of the occasion. Never have I suggested that we should give the worker’s wages to the drone, or that we should ourselves remain inactive, idle, and helpless, and only learn by report that So-and-so’s mercenaries have won a victory. For that is what happens now.
36
I am not indeed blaming the man who does your duty for you, but I call on you to do that for yourselves which you reward others for doing, and not to desert that post of honor, men of Athens, which your ancestors through many glorious hazards won and bequeathed to you.
36
I have now said almost all that I consider suitable. It is for you to choose what is likely to benefit the city and all of you.
