On the False Embassy

Well, when he tries to insult other people by calling them speech-makers and charlatans, he shall be shown to be open to the same reproach. For those iambics come from the Phoenix of Euripides. That play was never acted by Theodorus or Aristodemus, for whom Aeschines commonly took the inferior parts; Molon however produced it, and perhaps some other players of the old school. But Sophocles’ Antigone was frequently acted by Theodorus, and also by Aristodemus; and in that play there are some iambic lines, admirably and most instructively composed. That passage Aeschines omitted to quote, though he has often spoken the lines, and knows them by heart;

for of course you are aware that, in all tragic dramas, it is the enviable privilege of third-rate actors to come on as tyrants, carrying their royal scepters. Now you shall weigh the merits of the verses which were specially written by the poet for the character of Creon-Aeschines, though he forgot to repeat them to himself in connection with his embassy, and did not quote them to the jury. Read.

Iambics from the Antigone of Sophocles
1. Who shall appraise the spirit of a man,
2. His mind, his temper, till he hath been proved
3. In ministry of laws and government?
4. I hold, and long have held, that man a knave
5. Who, standing at the helm of state, deserts
6. The wisest counsel, or in craven fear
7. Of any, sets a curb upon his lips.
8. Who puts his friend above his fatherland
9. I scorn as nothing worth; and for myself,
10. Witness all-seeing Heaven! I will not hold
11. My peace when I descry the curse that comes
12. To sap my citizens’ security;
13. Nor will I count as kin my country’s foes;
14. For well I wot our country is the ship
15. That saves us all, sailing on even keel:
16. Embarked in her we fear no dearth of friends.