Exordia

Do not take my word for it that this is so but consider for a little. Has anyone ever stood up before you and said, I have come forward, men of Athens, desiring to get my hands on something of yours, not for your sakes? Certainly not a single one. Instead, they say for your sakes and on your account and cite these plausible motives.

Come now, men of Athens, consider why in the world you, for whose sakes they all speak, are on the whole no better off now than before, while these, who all say for your sakes, without a single one having ever said for our own sakes, have turned from beggars into rich men.[*](On the wealth of politicians see Dem. 13.20, Dem. 21.158 and Dem. 3.29.) It Is because, though they say they love you, men of Athens, they love not you but themselves.