Exordia

Demosthenes

Demosthenes. Vol. VII. Funeral Speech, Erotic Essay, LX, LXI, Exordia and Letters. DeWitt, Norman W. and Norman J., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949 (printing).

While to unite in forcing the speaker to express your wishes shows an intention to do wrong, the willingness to deliberate is proved when you listen to his views, scan them and, if any Is good, adopt it. I say this, not as one about to recommend measures opposed to those you are favouring, but as one who knows that, if you refuse to hear the opposition, they will say you have been deceived, while, if you do listen and are not persuaded, they will have been proved on the spot to be offering the worse proposals.