Letter 279: I displayed both speeches -- both of them in full: the recent combative one and the older laudatory one.

To Demetrius. (359/60) I displayed both my speeches, and indeed both my speeches in their entirety: the one of the present, the combative one, and the other of long ago, the one giving praise. But you supposed that I, having taken fright at the clamor of some jackdaw, had chosen to keep silent and had turned base toward my own uncle. But it is not so; rather, those parts which carried no danger of being brought out before many people were spoken among many; but a third portion of the speech required trustworthy friends, whom, having received only a few upon the benches and having shut the doors, I read it out to, begging of them that, if anything should appear fine, they should admire it in silence and not, by an outcry, rouse the many. And up to the present moment - and I bow before Adrasteia [goddess of retribution] - no fear has sprung up. Do you long to hear what causes the fear? The sword of him who then held power snatched the city away - you know how it was seething. It was not possible, then, to show this man's help to be great without showing that man's savagery to be great. It has been shown, then, and the speech has met with what was fitting. But there is fear that, while the speech may be well off as to its part, this fine thing may breed something base for its maker; for that man, even though dead, has power through the living one. Whoever, then, does not desire the pit will choose rather to hide a speech than, by giving it, to tremble. Let this one, then, be granted a postponement, but the other you will receive by way of the best of the men among us, before whom no one came to the point of wishing to take it. And these things are sent to you, through which I contended against one of the works of Demosthenes, together with two preliminary contests: the one which you were asking for, and the other which perhaps will not cause distress.

Δημητρίῳ. (359/60) Ἄμφω μὲν ἔδειξα τὼ λόγω καὶ ὅλω γε ἄμφω τὼ λόγω, τὸν μὲν νῦν τὸν μαχόμενον, τὸν δὲ πάλαι τὸν ἐπαινοῦντα· σὺ δὲ ᾤου με δείσαντα κολοιοῦ τινος θόρυβον ᾑρῆσθαι σιγᾶν καὶ γεγενῆσθαι κακὸν περὶ τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ θεῖον. τὸ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει, ἀλλ’ ἃ μὲν οὐκ εἶχε κίνδυνον εἰς πολλοὺς ἐκφέ- ρειν, ἐν πολλοῖς εἴρηται· τοῦ λόγου δὲ ἡ τρίτη μοῖρα φίλων ἐδεῖτο σαφῶν, οὓς ὀλίγοις δεξάμενος τοῖς βάθροις κλείσας τὰς θύρας ἀνέγνων δεόμενος αὐτῶν, εἴ τι φαίνοιτο καλόν, σιγῇ θαυμάζειν μηδὲ τῇ βοῇ πολλοὺς ἐγείρειν. καὶ μέχρι γε τοῦ παρόντος, προσκυνῶ δὲ Ἀδράστειαν, φόβος οὐδεὶς ἐξέφυ. τί τὸ φοβοῦν, ἀκοῦσαι ποθεῖς; ἐξήρπασε τοῦ τότε κρα- τοῦντος θασγάνιος τὴν πόλιν οἶσθ’ ὅπως ζέοντος. οὐκ ἦν οὖν τὴν τοῦδε βοήθειαν δεῖξαι μεγάλην μὴ τὴν ὠμότητα δεί- ξαντα τὴν ἐκείνου μεγάλην. δέδεικται δή, καὶ ὁ λόγος ὧν εἰκὸς τετύχηκεν. ἀλλ’ ἔστι δέος μὴ τῷ μὲν λόγῳ τὸ μέρος ἔχῃ καλῶς, τὸ καλὸν δὲ τοῦτο κακὸν τέκῃ τῷ ποιητῇ δύναται γὰρ καὶ τεθνεὼς ἐκεῖνος διὰ τοῦ ζῶντος. ὅστις οὖν οὐκ ἐπι- θυμεῖ βαράθρου, κρύψαι λόγον αἱρήσεται μᾶλλον ἢ διδοὺς τρέμειν. τουτὶ μὲν οὖν ἀναβολῇ δεδόσθω, τὸν δὲ ἕτερον δέξῃ δι’ ἀνδρὸς ἀρίστου τῶν παρ’ ἡμῖν, οὗ πρότερος οὐδεὶς ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ βουληθῆναι λαβεῖν. ταυτὶ δέ σοι, δι’ ὧν ἡμιλ- λησάμην πρός τι τῶν Δημοσθένους, καὶ προάγωνε δύο, ὁ μὲν ὃν ᾔτεις, ὁ δὲ ἴσως οὐκ ἀνιάσων.