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[48]
Then what man, be he good or bad, wants to
spare such a fellow? Why spare one who is the betrayer of those who resemble
him, and the foe, by instinct and by inheritance, of good men; unless one thinks
that the State should preserve, as a farmer might do, the seed and stock of the
blackmailer and rascal? But that would be a disgrace, men of Athens; yes, by Heaven! and I account it an
impiety too. I cannot believe that your ancestors built you these law-courts as
a hotbed for rogues of this sort, but rather to enable you to check and chastise
them, until no man shall admire or covet vice.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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