"... But the cities were stricken with disease: those who were engaged in political and practical affairs were taking bribes and being corrupted by the hope of money; while the mass of private citizens either showed no foresight, or else were caught by the bait of ease and leisure from day to day; and all alike had fallen victims to some such delusive fancy, as that the danger would come upon every one but themselves, and that through the perils of others they would be able to secure their own position as they pleased. 46 And so, I suppose, it has come to pass that the masses have atoned for their great and ill-timed indifference by the loss of their freedom, while the leaders in affairs, who fancied that they were selling everything except themselves, have realized that they had sold themselves first of all. For instead of being called friends and guest-friends, as they were called at the time when they were taking their bribes, they now hear themselves called flatterers, and god-forsaken, and all the other names that they deserve. 47 For no one, men of Athens, spends his money out of a desire to benefit the traitor; nor, when once he has secured the object for which he bargains, does he employ the traitor to advise him with regard to other objects: if it were so, nothing could be happier than a traitor. But it is not so, of course. Far from it! When the aspirant after dominion has gained his object, he is also the master of those who have sold it to him: and because then he knows their villainy, he then hates and mistrusts them, and covers them with insults. 48 For observe-- for even if the time of the events is past, the time for realizing truths like these is ever present to wise men. ..."

-- #Demosthenes, #On The Crown, 330 B. C.

#quote #TheCrown #politics #corruption #sold #themselves

Nothing is easier than self-deceit, for what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.
-- Demosthenes (50 BCE)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #Demosthenes #SelfDeceit

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #LakePowell #SlickRock #Canyon #Utah

#Demosthenes Spoke

http://inaniludibrio.com/2025/11/01/demosthenes-spoke/

#history #power #culture #information #data #knowledge #wisdom

Nothing is easier than self-deceit, for what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.
-- Demosthenes (50 BCE)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #Demosthenes #SelfDeceit

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunrise #LakeSantaFe #Florida

The founders of the #American Enlightenment did speak in memes.

Their memes referenced #Cato and #Demosthenes.

There is nothing stopping #HistoryMemes memes from doing the same now.

The revolution will be memeticized.
https://mastodon.social/@wkfry/113495236196298058

Listening to a podcast about the #Greek orator #Demosthenes, whose uncanny skill in communicating a lot of information in a few words would millennia later lend his name to the "#demoscene", a movement about packing tons of visuals and audio in very few bytes.

#AncientHistory #shitpost

Do the oligarchs basically view themselves as Phillip of Macedon, and their princelings as Alexanders the Great?

That might explain a lot of the Dominionist millenarianism eschatology.

Per Adlai Stevenson II:

“Do you remember that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, ‘Let us march!’”

We are all heirs of Demosthenes.

#Demosthenes #oratory #rhetoric #politics #power #oligarchy