And yet I did not permit these disabilities to dishearten me nor did I allow myself to
 sink into obscurity or utter oblivion, but since I was barred from public life I took
 refuge in study and work and writing down my thoughts, choosing as my field, not petty
 matters nor private contracts, nor the things about which the other orators prate, but the
 affairs of Hellas and of kings and of
 states. See General Introduction. Wherefore I
 thought that I was entitled to more honor than the speakers who come before you on the
 platform in proportion as my discourses were on greater and nobler themes than theirs. But
 nothing of the sort has come to pass. And yet all men know that the majority of the orators have the audacity to harangue the
 people, not for the good of the state, but for what they themselves expect to gain, See Isoc. 7.24 and note. 
 while I and mine not only abstain more than all others from the public funds but expend
 more than we can afford from our private means on the needs of the commonwealth; See Isoc. 15.144-152 and
 notes. and they know, furthermore, that these orators are either wrangling among themselves Cf., for this contrast between the other orators and himself,
 Isoc. 15.147-149 . in the assemblies over deposits
 of money For this common cause of controversy see Isoc. 4.188 and note. Such controversies were sometimes
 referred to the General Assembly and there debated and voted upon. or insulting
 our allies Cf. Isoc. 12.142 
 and Isoc. 15.318 . or blackmailing Cf. Isoc. 15.318 . 
 whosoever of the rest of the world chances to be the object of their attacks, while I, for
 my part, have led the way in discourses which exhort the Hellenes to concord among
 themselves and war against the barbarians and which urge that we all unite in colonizing a country so vast and so vulnerable that
 those who have heard the truth about it assert with one accord that if we are sensible and
 cease from our frenzy against each other we can quickly gain possession of it without
 effort and without risk and that this territory will easily accommodate all the people
 among us who are in want of the necessities of life. The
 theme of Isoc. 4 and of Isoc.
 5 . And these are enterprises than which, should all the world unite in the
 search, none could be found more honorable or more important or more advantageous to us
 all. But in spite of the fact that myself and these orators are so far apart in our ways of
 thinking and that I have chosen a field so much more worthy, the majority of people
 estimate us, not in accordance with our merits, but in a confused and altogether
 irrational manner. For they find fault with the character of the popular orators and yet
 put them at the head of affairs and invest them with power over the whole state; and,
 again, they praise my discourses and yet are envious of me personally for no other reason
 than because of these very discourses which they receive with favor. So unfortunately do I
 fare at their hands.