Exordia

It seems to me a fine and seemly thing, men of Athens, for a man who has convinced himself he has something profitable to say to take the floor, but I consider it altogether shameful to force people to listen against their will. And I think, if you will but take my advice today, you will be better able both to choose the best measures and to shorten the speeches of those who come to the platform.

What, then, do I advise? First of all, men of Athens, to require the man who comes forward to confine himself to the matters you are considering. For otherwise someone may embrace many other topics in his speech and say many witty things, especially those who are smart at it, as some of these are. Well, if you have come here to listen to fine phrases, the thing to do is to make them and listen to them, but if you have come to deliberate about a choice of measures, I urge you to judge the measures strictly by themselves, eliminating all passages of a nature to mislead.

This, then, is my first point. My second, which to some of you will perhaps be inconsistent with cutting the speeches shorter, is that you listen in silence. For on the question whether this or that is expedient and which choice the State might more rightly prefer, there are few arguments to be presented, unless by such persons as wish to prattle aimlessly, nor would anyone have occasion to state them a second time. As for the claim that it is only fair to listen to the heckling,[*](This seems to refer to genuine heckling and not to organized interruption as in Dem. 13.20 and Dem. 2.29.) and to give an answer and to make speech after speech, there is no one who could not do that. Thus by heckling you do not get rid of speeches; instead you are forced in addition to hear speeches that are totally irrelevant. Accordingly my judgement concerning the matter before you now begins.