Against Callimachus (60-62)

but when the other trierarchs were glad to be relieved of their duties and were discouraged over the situation, and not only regretted the loss of what they had already spent, but were trying to conceal the remainder and, judging that the commonwealth was completely ruined, were looking out for their private interests, my decision was not the same as theirs; but after persuading my brother to be joint-trierarch with me, we paid the crew out of our own means and proceeded to harass the enemy.

And finally, when Lysander[*] proclaimed that if anyone should import grain to you he would be punished with death, we were so zealous for the city’s welfare that, although no one else dared to bring in even his own, we intercepted the grain that was being brought in to them and discharged it at the Piraeus. In recognition of these services you voted that we should be honored with crowns, and that in front of the statues of the eponymous heroes[*] we should be proclaimed as the authors of great blessings.

Yet surely men who should now be regarded as friends of the people are not those who, when the people were in power, were eager to participate in affairs, but those who, when the state was suffering misfortune, were willing to brave the first dangers in your behalf, and gratitude is due, not to him who has suffered personal hardships, but to him who has conferred benefits upon you; and in the case of those who have become poor, pity should be felt, not for those who have lost their property, but for those who have spent their fortune for your good.