Toxaris; Or, Friendship (35)

My story, then, is told of this handful of good and true friends out of the many that memory first supplied me with, so I will now descend from the post of orator and leave the floor to you. But you had better be careful to make your Scythians out no worse than these, but a good deal better, unless you want to lose your right hand. You must speak up like a man, for it would be an absurd experience for you if, after having praised Orestes and Pylades like a professional orator, you should prove an indifferent speaker in behalf of the Scythians.

Toxaris It is all very well that you spur me on to speak! Don't you care whether you lose

your tongue by defeat in the contest? But I will begin directly without any of your phrase-making; that is not our way in Scythia, particularly when the deeds speak louder than the words that tell of them. You need not expect me to follow you in elaborating the praises of a hero who married a plain wife without a dowry, or another who gave two thousand dollars as a wedding-present to a friend's daughter, or even one who offered himself for imprisonment with the certainty of a speedy release. For all these are trifles, and not one of them calls for exertion or courage.