Demosthenes, The Erotic Essay, Norman W. DeWitt (Translator), Norman J. DeWitt (Translator), 47

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[47] Of these examples not one worked out contrary to reason¹; for it would be much stranger if we were obliged to achieve paltry ends through acquiring knowledge and putting it into practice, but were capable of accomplishing the big things without this effort.

Now I do not know what call there is to say more on these topics, for not even at the outset did I introduce them because I assumed you were absolutely ignorant, but because I thought that such exhortations both arouse those who lack knowledge and spur on those who possess it;.²

The Erotic Essay. Demosthenes. Norman W. DeWitt (Translator), Norman J. DeWitt (Translator). London. 1949.

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Current edition Perseus

The Erotic Essay (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. VII: Funeral Speech, Erotic Essay, LX, LXI, Exordia and Letters. DeWitt, Norman W. and Norman J., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949 (printing).)

Editions (1)

ἐρωτικὸς Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. III. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.) — 47 focus

[47] καὶ τούτων οὐδὲν ἀλόγως ἀποβέβηκεν· πολὺ γὰρ ἄν ἦν ἀτοπώτερον, εἰ τὰ μὲν μικρὰ διʼ ἐπιστήμης καὶ μελέτης ἠναγκαζόμεθʼ ἐπιτελεῖν, τὰ δὲ μέγιστʼ ἄνευ ταύτης τῆς πραγματείας ἠδυνάμεθα πράττειν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅ τι δεῖ πλείω λέγειν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὡς παντελῶς ἀπείρως ἔχοντός σου περὶ αὐτῶν ἐμνήσθην, ἀλλʼ ἡγούμενος τὰς τοιαύτας παρακλήσεις τοὺς μὲν ἀγνοοῦντας προτρέπειν, τοὺς δʼ εἰδότας παροξύνειν.

Notes on the current edition

The Erotic Essay

1. With a difference of one word this sentence is found in Isoc. 4.150 , as Blass notes. It looks, however, like a commonplace.

2. Writings that urged young men to study philosophy formed a distinct literary genre among the ancients under the name protreptics. The Epistle to Menoeceus of Epicurus is an extant example.

Demosthenes The Erotic Essay 47

Norman W. DeWitt (Translator), Norman J. DeWitt (Translator)

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