At this reproach the assembly was stirred. A mere fable brought them open-eared to all the orator would say.
We are all Athenians in this respect. I myself am, even as I point this moral. I should take the utmost pleasure now in hearing "The Ass's Skin"[5] told to me. The world is old, they say: so it is; but, nevertheless, it is as greedy of amusement as a child.
[2] Elizur Wright explains that the orator was Demades.
[3] Horace spoke of the Roman people as a beast with many heads.
[4] Philip of Macedon, who was at war against the Greeks.
[5] An old French nursery tale.