14
Well then, Athenians, if a man has often been committed to you lawfully for punishment, condemned on information lodged by citizens, if neither the Eleven nor the prison have been able to restrain him, will you want to use him as a counsellor? The law demands that the herald shall first pray, amid dead silence, before he surrenders to you the task of deliberating on public affairs. Will you then allow an impious wretch, who has proved wicked in his dealings with everyone, and in particular his own father, to share in citizenship with you, with your families and kinsmen?
15
After rejecting all thought of pardon for Demades and Demosthenes, because they were proved to have been taking bribes against you, and punishing them,—quite rightly, though you knew that they had served you during their administration, certainly in many respects if not in everything,—will you acquit this accursed man who has not done you a service ever since he has been in politics but has been the greatest possible menace? Would not everyone reproach you if you accepted such a person as your adviser? For when you are addressed by a man whose wickedness is both notorious and undeniable and a byword among all Athenians, the bystanders will wonder whether you who listen to him have no better advisers or whether you enjoy hearing such people.
