ORATION ON THE CROWN 423
heard ? No man stood forward. He repeated the proclamation again and again. No person rose the more, though all the Generals and all the Orators were present, and though the cries of our common country were heard, imploring some one to lift his voice and save her. For the voice of the herald, in the solemn form ordained by law, may well be deemed the general voice of the country. And truly, if the only qualification to come forward then had been an anxiety for the public safety, all of you, and every other Athenian too, would have risen and ascended the Bema ; ^ for I am well aware that all were anx- ious to save the State. If wealth had been the quali- fication, we might have had the three hundred ; if both wealth and patriotism, those who, in the sequel, became such ample voluntary contributors. But that was, manifestly, the crisis, — that the day not merely for a wealthy and pa,triotic individual to bear a part, but for one who had, from the very first, kept pace with the progress of affairs, and happily penetrated the motives of the conduct and the designs of Philip. For a man vinacquainted with these — one who had not anxiously watched them from their first appear- ance — might be ever so rich and ever so zealous, and yet be none the more likely to descry the best course, and to give you the soundest counsel. In that day, then, such a man was I, — and standing up, I spoke to you, what you must once more attentively listen to, with two views : first, that you may perceive how, alone, of all the Orators and Statesmen, I did not abandon the post of Patriotism in the hour of peril, but, both by my words and my actions, dis- charged my duty to you in the last emergency ; ^ The tribune, the standiug-place of the speaker.
