by Demosthenes
[38] εἰσὶ τοίνυν τινὲς οἳ τότ᾽ ἐξελέγχειν τὸν παριόντ᾽ οἴονται, ἐπειδὰν ἐρωτήσωσι ‘τί οὖν χρὴ ποιεῖν;’ οἷς ἐγὼ μὲν τὸ δικαιότατον καὶ ἀληθέστατον τοῦτ᾽ ἀποκρινοῦμαι, ταῦτα μὴ ποιεῖν ἃ νυνὶ ποιεῖτε, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἀκριβῶς ἐρῶ. καὶ ὅπως, ὥσπερ ἐρωτῶσι προθύμως, οὕτω καὶ ποιεῖν ἐθελήσουσιν.
[38] Now there are some who think they confute a speaker the moment they ask, “What then ought we to do?” To these I will give the fairest and truest answer: not what you are doing now. I will not, however, shrink from going carefully into details; only they must be as willing to act as they are eager to question.
[39] πρῶτον μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοῦτο παρ᾽ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς βεβαίως γνῶναι, ὅτι τῇ πόλει Φίλιππος πολεμεῖ καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην λέλυκεν （καὶ παύσασθε περὶ τούτου κατηγοροῦντες ἀλλήλων） καὶ κακόνους μέν ἐστι καὶ ἐχθρὸς ὅλῃ τῇ πόλει καὶ τῷ τῆς πόλεως ἐδάφει,
[39] First, men of Athens, you must fix this firmly in your minds, that Philip is at war with us and has broken the peace. Yes, let there be no more wrangling over that question. He is ill-disposed and hostile to the whole city and to the very soil on which the city stands,
[40] προσθήσω δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ τοῖς μάλιστ᾽ οἰομένοις αὐτῷ χαρίζεσθαι （εἰ δὲ μή, σκεψάσθων Εὐθυκράτη καὶ Λασθένη τοὺς Ὀλυνθίους, οἳ δοκοῦντες οἰκειότατ᾽ αὐτῷ διακεῖσθαι, ἐπειδὴ τὴν πόλιν προὔδοσαν, πάντων κάκιστ᾽ ἀπολώλασιν）, οὐδενὶ μέντοι μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ πολιτείᾳ πολεμεῖ οὐδ᾽ ἐπιβουλεύει, καὶ σκοπεῖ μᾶλλον οὐδὲ ἓν τῶν πάντων, ἢ πῶς ταύτην καταλύσει.
[40] and, I will add, to every man in the city, even to those who imagine that they stand highest in his good graces. If they doubt it, let them look at Euthycrates and Lasthenes, the Olynthians, who thought they were such bosom-friends of his, and then, when they had betrayed their city, met the most ignominious fate of all. The chief object, however, of his arms and his diplomacy is our free constitution; on nothing in the world is he more bent than on its destruction.
[41] καὶ τοῦτ᾽ εἰκότως τρόπον τινὰ πράττει: οἶδεν γὰρ ἀκριβῶς ὅτι οὐδ᾽ ἂν πάντων τῶν ἄλλων γένηται κύριος, οὐδὲν ἔστ᾽ αὐτῷ βεβαίως ἔχειν, ἕως ἂν ὑμεῖς δημοκρατῆσθε, ἀλλ᾽ ἐάν ποτε συμβῇ τι πταῖσμα, ἃ πολλὰ γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ἀνθρώπῳ, ἥξει πάντα τὰ νῦν συμβεβιασμένα καὶ καταφεύξεται πρὸς ὑμᾶς:
[41] And it is in a way natural that he should act thus. For he knows for certain that even if he masters all else, his power will be precarious as long as you remain a democracy; but if ever he meets with one of the many mischances to which mankind is liable, all the forces that are now under restraint will be attracted to your side.
[42] ἐστὲ γὰρ ὑμεῖς οὐκ αὐτοὶ πλεονεκτῆσαι καὶ κατασχεῖν ἀρχὴν εὖ πεφυκότες, ἀλλ᾽ ἕτερον λαβεῖν κωλῦσαι καὶ ἔχοντ᾽ ἀφελέσθαι δεινοί, καὶ ὅλως ἐνοχλῆσαι τοῖς ἄρχειν βουλομένοις καὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς ἐλευθερίαν ἐξελέσθαι ἕτοιμοι. οὔκουν βούλεται τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ καιροῖς τὴν παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐλευθερίαν ἐφεδρεύειν, οὐδὲ πολλοῦ δεῖ, οὐ κακῶς οὐδ᾽ ἀργῶς ταῦτα λογιζόμενος.
[42] For nature has not equipped you to seek aggrandizement and secure empire, but you are clever at thwarting another’s designs and wresting from him his gains, and quick to confound the plots of the ambitious and to vindicate the freedom of all mankind. Therefore he does not want to have the Athenian tradition of liberty watching to seize every chance against himself. Far from it! Nor is his reasoning here either faulty or idle.
[43] πρῶτον μὲν δὴ τοῦτο δεῖ, ἐχθρὸν ὑπειληφέναι τῆς πολιτείας καὶ τῆς δημοκρατίας ἀδιάλλακτον ἐκεῖνον: εἰ γὰρ μὴ τοῦτο πεισθήσεσθε ταῖς ψυχαῖς, οὐκ ἐθελήσεθ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῶν πραγμάτων σπουδάζειν: δεύτερον δ᾽ εἰδέναι σαφῶς ὅτι πάνθ᾽ ὅσα πραγματεύεται καὶ κατασκευάζεται νῦν, ἐπὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν πόλιν παρασκευάζεται, καὶ ὅπου τις ἐκεῖνον ἀμύνεται, ἐνταῦθ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀμύνεται.
[43] This, then, is the first thing needful, to recognize in Philip the inveterate enemy of constitutional government and democracy, for unless you are heartily persuaded of this, you will not consent to take your politics seriously. Your second need is to convince yourselves that all his activity and all his organization is preparing the way for an attack on our city, and that where any resistance is offered to him, that resistance is our gain.
[44] οὐ γὰρ οὕτω γ᾽ εὐήθης οὐδεὶς ὃς ὑπολαμβάνει τὸν Φίλιππον τῶν μὲν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ κακῶν （τί γὰρ ἂν ἄλλο τις εἴποι Δρογγίλον καὶ Καβύλην καὶ Μάστειραν καὶ ἃ νῦν ἐξαιρεῖ καὶ κατασκευάζεται;） τούτων μὲν ἐπιθυμεῖν καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ταῦτα λαβεῖν καὶ πόνους καὶ χειμῶνας καὶ τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους ὑπομένειν,
[44] For no man is so simple as to believe that though Philip covets these wretched objects in Thrace — for what else can one call Drongilus and Cabyle and Mastira and the other places that he is now occupying and equipping? — and though he endures toil and winter storms and deadly peril for the privilege of taking them,
[45] τῶν δ᾽ Ἀθηναίων λιμένων καὶ νεωρίων καὶ τριήρων καὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἀργυρείων καὶ τοσούτων προσόδων οὐκ ἐπιθυμεῖν, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὑμᾶς ἐάσειν ἔχειν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν μελινῶν καὶ τῶν ὀλυρῶν τῶν ἐν τοῖς Θρᾳκίοις σιροῖς ἐν τῷ βαράθρῳ χειμάζειν. οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖν᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τούτων γενέσθαι κύριος καὶ τἄλλα πάντα πραγματεύεται.
[45] yet he does not covet the Athenian harbors and dockyards and war-galleys and silver mines and the like sources of wealth, but will allow you to retain them, while he winters in that purgatory for the sake of the rye and millet of the Thracian store-pits. It is not so, but it is to win these prizes that he devotes his activities to all those other objects.
[46] τί οὖν εὖ φρονούντων ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν; εἰδότας ταῦτα καὶ ἐγνωκότας τὴν μὲν ὑπερβάλλουσαν καὶ ἀνήκεστον ταύτην ῥᾳθυμίαν ἀποθέσθαι, χρήματα δ᾽ εἰσφέρειν καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους ἀξιοῦν, καὶ ὅπως τὸ συνεστηκὸς τοῦτο συμμενεῖ στράτευμ᾽ ὁρᾶν καὶ πράττειν, ἵν᾽ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος ἕτοιμον ἔχει δύναμιν τὴν ἀδικήσουσαν καὶ καταδουλωσομένην ἅπα
ντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας, οὕτω τὴν σώσουσαν ὑμεῖς καὶ βοηθήσουσαν ἅπασιν ἕτοιμον ἔχητε.
[46] What, then, is the task of sound patriots? To know and realize all this, to shake off our outrageous and incurable slothfulness, to contribute funds, to call upon our allies, and to provide and arrange for the permanent upkeep of our existing army, so that just as Philip has a force ready to attack and enslave all the Greek states, so you may have one ready to protect and assist them all.
[47] οὐ γὰρ ἔστι βοηθείαις χρωμένους οὐδέποτ᾽ οὐδὲν τῶν δεόντων πρᾶξαι, ἀλλὰ κατασκευάσαντας δεῖ δύναμιν, καὶ τροφὴν ταύτῃ πορίσαντας καὶ ταμίας καὶ δημοσίους, καὶ ὅπως ἔνι τὴν τῶν χρημάτων φυλακὴν ἀκριβεστάτην γενέσθαι, οὕτω ποιήσαντας, τὸν μὲν τῶν χρημάτων λόγον παρὰ τούτων λαμβάνειν, τὸν δὲ τῶν ἔργων παρὰ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ. κἂν οὕτω ποιήσητε καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἐθελήσηθ᾽ ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἄγειν εἰρήνην δικαίαν καὶ μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς αὑτοῦ Φίλιππον ἀναγκάσετε, οὗ μεῖζον οὐδὲν ἂν γένοιτ᾽ ἀγαθόν, ἢ πολεμήσετ᾽ ἐξ ἴσου.
[47] For if you trust to mere expeditions, you can never gain any of your essential objects. You must first levy a force and provide for its maintenance, and appoint paymasters and clerks, and arrange that there shall be the strictest watch kept over your expenditure, and afterwards you must demand from your paymasters an account of their moneys, and from the general an account of his campaign. If you do this, and if you are really in earnest about it, you will either compel Philip to keep the peace fairly and to abide within his own frontiers — and that would be the greatest blessing of all — or you will fight him on equal terms.
[48] εἰ δέ τῳ δοκεῖ ταῦτα καὶ δαπάνης μεγάλης καὶ πόνων πολλῶν καὶ πραγματείας εἶναι, καὶ μάλ᾽ ὀρθῶς δοκεῖ: ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν λογίσηται τὰ τῇ πόλει μετὰ ταῦτα γενησόμενα, ἂν ταῦτα μὴ ‘θέλῃ, εὑρήσει λυσιτελοῦν τὸ ἑκόντας ποιεῖν τὰ δέοντα.
[48] But if anyone thinks that all this means great expense and much toil and worry, he is quite correct, but if he reckons up what will hereafter be the result to Athens if she refuses to act, he will conclude that it is to our interest to perform our duty willingly.
[49] εἰ μὲν γάρ ἐστί τις ἐγγυητὴς θεῶν （οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρώπων γ᾽ οὐδεὶς ἂν γένοιτ᾽ ἀξιόχρεως τηλικούτου πράγματος） ὡς, ἐὰν ἄγηθ᾽ ἡσυχίαν καὶ ἅπαντα προῆσθε, οὐκ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ὑμᾶς τελευτῶν ἐκεῖνος ἥξει, αἰσχρὸν μὲν νὴ τὸν Δία καὶ πάντας θεοὺς καὶ ἀνάξιον ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων τῇ πόλει καὶ πεπραγμένων τοῖς προγόνοις, τῆς ἰδίας ἕνεκα ῥᾳθυμίας τοὺς ἄλλους πάντας Ἕλληνας εἰς δουλείαν προέσθαι, καὶ ἔγωγ᾽ αὐτὸς μὲν τεθνάναι μᾶλλον ἂν ἢ ταῦτ᾽ εἰρηκέναι βουλοίμην: οὐ μὴν ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τις ἄλλος λέγει καὶ ὑμᾶς πείθει, ἔστω, μὴ ἀμύνεσθε, ἅπαντα πρόεσθε.
[49] For if you have the guarantee of some god, since no mere mortal could be a satisfactory surety for such an event that if you remain inactive and abandon everything, Philip will not in the end march against yourselves, by Zeus and all the other gods, it would be disgraceful and unworthy of you and of the resources of your city and the record of your ancestors to abandon all the other Greeks to enslavement for the sake of your own ease, and I for one would rather die than be guilty of proposing such a policy. All the same, if someone else proposes it and wins your assent, so be it: offer no resistance, sacrifice everything.
[50] εἰ δὲ μηδενὶ τοῦτο δοκεῖ, τοὐναντίον δὲ πρόϊσμεν ἅπαντες, ὅτι ὅσῳ ἂν πλειόνων ἐάσωμεν ἐκεῖνον γενέσθαι κύριον, τοσούτῳ χαλεπωτέρῳ καὶ ἰσχυροτέρῳ χρησόμεθ᾽ ἐχθρῷ, ποῖ ἀναδυόμεθα; ἢ τί μέλλομεν; ἢ πότ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὰ δέοντα ποιεῖν ἐθελήσομεν;
[50] But if no one approves of this, and if on the contrary we all of us foresee that the more we allow him to extend his power, the stronger and more formidable we shall find him in war, what escape is open to us, or why do we delay? When, men of Athens, shall we consent to do our duty? “Whenever it is necessary,” you will say.
[51] ὅταν νὴ Δί᾽ ἀναγκαῖον ᾖ. ἀλλ᾽ ἣν μὲν ἄν τις ἐλευθέρων ἀνθρώπων ἀνάγκην εἴποι, οὐ μόνον ἤδη πάρεστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλαι παρελήλυθε, τὴν δὲ τῶν δούλων ἀπεύχεσθαι δήπου μὴ γενέσθαι δεῖ. διαφέρει δὲ τί; ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐλευθέρῳ μὲν ἀνθρώπῳ μεγίστη ἀνάγκη ἡ ὑπὲρ τῶν γιγνομένων αἰσχύνη, καὶ μείζω ταύτης οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ἥντιν᾽ ἂν εἴποιμεν: δούλῳ δὲ πληγαὶ καὶ ὁ τοῦ σώματος αἰκισμός, ἃ μήτε γένοιτο οὔτε λέγειν ἄξιον.
[51] But what any free man would call necessity is not merely present now, but is long ago past, and from the necessity that constrains a slave we must surely pray to be delivered. Do you ask the difference? The strongest necessity that a free man feels is shame for his own position, and I know not if we could name a stronger; but for a slave necessity means stripes and bodily outrage, unfit to name here, from which Heaven defend us!
[52] πάντα τοίνυν τἄλλ᾽ εἰπὼν ἂν ἡδέως, καὶ δείξας ὃν τρόπον ὑμᾶς ἔνιοι καταπολιτεύονται, τὰ μὲν ἄλλ᾽ ἐάσω: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδάν τι τῶν πρὸς Φίλιππον ἐμπέσῃ, εὐθὺς ἀναστάς τις λέγει τὸ τὴν εἰρήνην ἄγειν ὡς ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ τρέφειν δύναμιν μεγάλην ὡς χαλεπόν, καὶ ‘διαρπάζειν τινὲς τὰ χρήματα βούλονται,’ καὶ τοιούτους λόγους, ἐξ ὧν ἀναβάλλουσι μὲν ὑμᾶς, ἡσυχίαν δὲ ποιοῦσιν ἐκείνῳ πράττειν ὅ τι βούλεται.
[52] Therefore, although I would gladly touch on all the other topics and explain the way in which certain politicians are working your ruin, I will confine myself to pointing out that whenever any question arises that concerns Philip, instantly up jumps someone and tells you how good a thing it is to preserve peace, and what a bother it is to keep up a large army, and how certain persons want to plunder your wealth, and all that sort of thing; and by these speeches they put you off and afford leisure for Philip to do whatever he wishes.
[53] ἐκ δὲ τούτων περιγίγνεται, ὑμῖν μὲν ἡ σχολὴ καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἤδη ποιεῖν, ἃ δέδοιχ᾽ ὅπως μήποθ᾽ ἡγήσεσθ᾽ ἐπὶ πολλῷ γεγενῆσθαι, τούτοις δ᾽ αἱ χάριτες καὶ ὁ μισθὸς ὁ τούτων. ἐγὼ δ᾽ οἴομαι τὴν μὲν εἰρήνην ἄγειν οὐχ ὑμᾶς δεῖν πείθειν, οἳ πεπεισμένοι κάθησθε, ἀλλὰ τὸν τὰ τοῦ πολέμου πράττοντα: ἂν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος πεισθῇ, τά γ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν ὑπάρχει:
[53] But the result of this is for you indeed repose and idleness, for the present — blessings which I am afraid you will one
day consider dearly purchased — but for the speakers the popularity and the payment. But in my view it is not to you that they should recommend peace, for you have taken the advice and there you sit: it is to the man who is even now on the war-path.
[54] νομίζειν δ᾽ εἶναι χαλεπὰ οὐχ ὅσ᾽ ἂν εἰς σωτηρίαν δαπανῶμεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἃ πεισόμεθα, ἂν ταῦτα μὴ ‘θέλωμεν ποιεῖν: καὶ τὸ ‘διαρπασθήσεται τὰ χρήματα’ τῷ φυλακὴν εἰπεῖν δι᾽ ἧς σωθήσεται κωλύειν, οὐχὶ τῷ τοῦ συμφέροντος ἀφεστάναι.
[54] For if Philip can be won over, your share of the compact is ready to hand. Again, they should reflect that the irksome thing is not the expense of securing our safety, but the doom that will be ours if we shrink from that expense. As for the “plunder of your wealth, “they ought to prevent that by proposing some way of checking it and not by abandoning your interests.
[55] καίτοι ἔγωγ᾽ ἀγανακτῶ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, εἰ τὰ μὲν χρήματα λυπεῖ τινὰς ὑμῶν εἰ διαρπασθήσεται, ἃ καὶ φυλάττειν καὶ κολάζειν τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἐφ᾽ ὑμῖν ἐστι, τὴν δ᾽ Ἑλλάδα πᾶσαν οὑτωσὶ Φίλιππος ἐφεξῆς ἁρπάζων οὐ λυπεῖ, καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἁρπάζων.