[143]
But of all the astonishing features of Leptines' law,
what astonishes me most is his ignorance of the fact that just as a man who
assigns heavy penalties for offences would be unlikely to have contemplated an
offence himself, so one who abolishes the rewards for benefactions will not
himself be likely to have contemplated a good deed. Now if, as is just possible,
he did not know this, he will at once confess it by allowing you to repeal the
law which embodies his own error, but if he shows himself obstinate and eager to
ratify the law, I for one cannot praise him, though I refrain from censure.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by C. A. Vince, M. A. and J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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