On the Navy-Boards (25)

That sounds like a riddle, but I will explain. Look at the great city that lies around you, men of Athens. In that city there is wealth, I might almost say, equal to that of all the other Greek cities together. But that wealth is in the hands of men whose temper is such that if all our orators started a scare that the King is coming, that he is close at hand, that the report must be true, and if the orators were backed by an equal number of oracle-mongers, not only would they fail to contribute, but they would refuse to declare or acknowledge their wealth.