[4]
To him the agreeable duty has been assigned; the part
that is almost always offensive remains for me. If as a safeguard against such
offence, I avoid the relation of my own achievements, I shall seem to be unable
to refute the charges alleged against me, or to establish my claim to any public
distinction. Yet, if I address myself to what I have done, and to the part I
have taken in politics, I shall often be obliged to speak about myself. Well, I
will endeavor to do so with all possible modesty; and let the man who has
initiated this controversy bear the blame of the egoism which the conditions
force upon me.
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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