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The older men would know—and in all fairness you ought to inform the younger ones—of the hearing granted PythonPython, pupil of Isocrates and a presumptuous orator headed a deputation of all the Allies of Philip when they come to Athens in 343 B.C. to accuse the people of unjust conduct. See Dem. 7.20-23, Dem. 18.136, Plut. Dem. 9, and Lucian Encomium 32. of Byzantium before the Assembly when he arrived with the envoys from the Greeks, expecting to show that the city was acting unjustly, but went away with the tables turned against him after I, alone of those who spoke on that occasion, had brought out the rights of the matter in your defence. I forbear to mention all the embassies upon which I served in support of your interests, in which you were never worsted even in a single instance;
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for I shaped my policy, men of Athens, not with an eye to helping you get the better of one another, nor whetting the State against itself, but furthering measures from which I thought a reputation for magnanimity would redound to you. With such aspirations you should all be delighted, and especially the younger men, not looking for someone who will always play the lackey to win your favour in his public conduct—for of this type there will never be a dearth—but for one who, actuated by loyalty, will even rebuke you for your errors of judgement.
