Against Philon, On his Scrutiny

Reflect, moreover, on this: what kind of oaths do you think he would regard, when by his act he has betrayed his ancestral gods? Or how could he give good counsel on our State affairs, when he did not even desire to liberate his country? Or what secrets would he keep, when he did not even choose to obey public orders? How can it be suitable that this man, who was not even the last to come at the call of danger, should be placed in front of those who achieved our success to receive this honor today? It would be deplorable if he, who accounted the whole body of our citizens as nothing, should not in his single person be disqualified by you.

I see certain persons who are preparing today to support him and to plead with you, since they were not able to seduce me; but in those days of your dangers and sorest struggles, when the constitution itself was at stake and you had to contend not merely for seats on the Council but for freedom itself, they did not plead with him then to support both you and the commonwealth, and to betray neither his country nor the Council, to which he now demands admission without any right, since our success was achieved by others.

He alone, gentlemen of the Council, will have no fair cause for complaint if he is not admitted: for it is not you who are debarring him from honor today; it is he who deprived himself of it, at the time when he declined to come, with a zeal such as brings him now for the drawing of the lots, to take his stand with you then as a champion of the Council.

I believe that what I have said is sufficient; and yet there are many things that I have omitted. But I am confident that even without these you will make for yourselves the decision that is best for the city. To judge of those who are worthy to sit on the Council you need no other test than yourselves and the civic character which enabled you to pass your own scrutiny. For this man’s conduct sets up a standard that is novel and foreign to all democracy.