Demosthenes

But you, men of Athens, must not wonder at the thefts that are committed, when we have thieves of brass, but house-walls of clay. However, though I have still more to say on this head, I shall stop here; the other traits of his character, and his disposition, should be surveyed in connection with his achievements as a statesman.

Well, then, he set out to engage in public matters after the Phocian war[*](357-346 B.C.) had broken out, as he himself says,[*](On the Crown, § 18.) and as it is possible to gather from his Philippic harangues. For some of these were made after the Phocian war was already ended, and the earliest of them touch upon affairs which were closely connected with it. And it is clear that when he prepared himself to speak in the prosecution of Meidias[*](About 350 B.C. The speech Aganinst Meidias (Or. xxi.) was never delivered. See § 154.) he was thirty-two years old, but had as yet no power or reputation in the conduct of the city’s affairs.