Exordia

and I shall myself merely try to tell you after what manner I think you will be best able to make your preparations. For this is the situation; though we should all prove ourselves to be clever speakers, I know well that your interests would not be advanced in the slightest, but if just one speaker, no matter who, should come forward and be able to demonstrate convincingly what kind of preparation, and how great, and provided from what funds, would be to the State’s advantage, all our present apprehension is as good as dispelled. This I shall try to do, if, after all, I am able, having first told you briefly how my opinion stands with respect to our relations with the King.[*](Of Persia, known also as the great king)

[*](The beginning of Dem. 14 is identical) Both parties seem to me to be in the wrong, men of Athens, both those who have supported the Arcadians and those who have supported the Spartans. For, just as if they had come here from one or the other of the two countries and were not of your own citizen body, to which both embassies are appealing, they are denouncing and abusing one another. This, however, was a concern of the visiting envoys, while to discuss the questions in the common interest and to consider your own interest without self-seeking is the duty of those who see fit to offer advice here in Athens.