by Demosthenes
[40] For war-galleys, men in abundance, money and material without stint, everything by which one might gauge the strength of our cities, these we as a body possess today in number and quantity far beyond the Greeks of former times. But all our resources are rendered useless, powerless, worthless by these traffickers.
[41] ὅτι δ᾽ οὕτω ταῦτ᾽ ἔχει τὰ μὲν νῦν ὁρᾶτε δήπου καὶ οὐδὲν ἐμοῦ προσδεῖσθε μάρτυρος: τὰ δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἄνωθεν χρόνοις ὅτι τἀναντί᾽ εἶχεν ἐγὼ δηλώσω, οὐ λόγους ἐμαυτοῦ λέγων, ἀλλὰ γράμματα τῶν προγόνων τῶν ὑμετέρων ἁκεῖνοι κατέθεντ᾽ εἰς στήλην χαλκῆν γράψαντες εἰς ἀκρόπολιν, οὐχ ἵν᾽ αὐτοῖς ᾖ χρήσιμα （καὶ γὰρ ἄνευ τούτων τῶν γραμμάτων τὰ δέοντ᾽ ἐφρόνουν）, ἀλλ᾽ ἵν᾽ ὑμεῖς ἔχηθ᾽ ὑπομνήματα καὶ παραδείγματα ὡς ὑπὲρ τῶν τοιούτων σπουδάζειν προσήκει.
[41] That this is so, you surely see for yourselves with regard to the present, and you need no evidence of mine, but that it was the opposite in the days of old I will prove, not in my own words, but by the written record of your ancestors, which they engraved on a bronze pillar and set up in the Acropolis. [It was not for their own use, for without these documents their instinct was right; but it was that you might have these examples to remind you that such cases ought to be regarded seriously.]
[42] τί οὖν λέγει τὰ γράμματα; ‘Ἄρθμιος’ φησὶ ‘Πυθώνακτος Ζελείτης ἄτιμος καὶ πολέμιος τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων αὐτὸς καὶ γένος.’ εἶθ᾽ ἡ αἰτία γέγραπται, δι᾽ ἣν ταῦτ᾽ ἐγένετο: ‘ὅτι τὸν χρυσὸν τὸν ἐκ Μήδων εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἤγαγεν.’ ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τὰ γράμματα.
[42] “Arthmius of Zelea,” it says, “son of Pythonax, outlaw and enemy of the people of Athens and of their allies, himself and his family.” Then is recorded the reason for this punishment: “because he conveyed the gold of the Medes to the Peloponnese.” So runs the inscription.
[43] λογίζεσθε δὴ πρὸς θεῶν, τίς ἦν ποθ᾽ ἡ διάνοια τῶν Ἀθηναίων τῶν τότε, ταῦτα ποιούντων, ἢ τί τὸ ἀξίωμα. ἐκεῖνοι Ζελείτην τινά, Ἄρθμιον, δοῦλον βασιλέως （ἡ γὰρ Ζέλειά ἐστι τῆς Ἀσίας）, ὅτι τῷ δεσπότῃ διακονῶν χρυσίον ἤγαγεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, οὐκ Ἀθήναζε, ἐχθρὸν αὑτῶν ἀνέγραψαν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων αὐτὸν καὶ γένος, καὶ ἀτίμους.
[43] I earnestly implore you to consider what was the intention of the Athenians who did this thing, or what was their proud claim. They proscribed as their enemy and the enemy of their allies, disfranchising him and his family, a man of Zelea, one Arthmius, a slave of the Great King （for Zelea is in Asia）, because in the service of his master he conveyed gold, not to Athens but to the Peloponnese.5
[44] τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶν οὐχ ἣν οὑτωσί τις ἂν φήσειεν ἀτιμίαν: τί γὰρ τῷ Ζελείτῃ, τῶν Ἀθηναίων κοινῶν εἰ μὴ μεθέξειν ἔμελλεν; ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς φονικοῖς γέγραπται νόμοις, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν μὴ διδῷ φόνου δικάσασθαι, ἀλλ᾽ εὐαγὲς ᾖ τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι, ‘καὶ ἄτιμος’ φησὶ ‘τεθνάτω.’ τοῦτο δὴ λέγει, καθαρὸν τὸν τούτων τιν᾽ ἀποκτείναντ᾽ εἶναι.
[44] This was not outlawry as commonly understood; for what mattered it to a native of Zelea if he was to be debarred from a share in the common rights of Athenian citizens? But the statutes relating to murder provide for cases where prosecution for murder is not allowed [but where it is a righteous act to slay the murderer]; “and he shall die an outlaw,” says the legislator. This simply means that anyone slaying a member of Arthmius’s family would be free from blood-guilt.
[45] οὐκοῦν ἐνόμιζον ἐκεῖνοι τῆς πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων σωτηρίας αὑτοῖς ἐπιμελητέον εἶναι: οὐ γὰρ ἂν αὐτοῖς ἔμελ᾽ εἴ τις ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ τινὰς ὠνεῖται καὶ διαφθείρει, μὴ τοῦθ᾽ ὑπολαμβάνουσιν: ἐκόλαζον δ᾽ οὕτω καὶ ἐτιμωροῦνθ᾽ οὓς αἴσθοιντο, ὥστε καὶ στηλίτας ποιεῖν. ἐκ δὲ τούτων εἰκότως τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἦν τῷ βαρβάρῳ φοβερά, οὐχ ὁ βάρβαρος τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ νῦν: οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχεθ᾽ ὑμεῖς οὔτε πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτ᾽ οὔτε πρὸς τἄλλα, ἀλλὰ πῶς;
[45] So our ancestors thought that they were bound to consider the welfare of all Greeks, for except on that assumption bribery and corruption in the Peloponnese would be no concern of theirs; and in chastising and punishing all whom they detected, they went so far as to set the offenders’ names on a pillar. The natural result was that the Greek power was dreaded by the barbarian, not the barbarian by the Greeks. But that is no longer so. For that is not your attitude towards these and other offences. What then is your attitude?
[46] ἴστ᾽ αὐτοί: τί γὰρ δεῖ περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν κατηγορεῖν; παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ οὐδὲν βέλτιον ὑμῶν ἅπαντες οἱ λοιποὶ Ἕλληνες: διόπερ φήμ᾽ ἔγωγε καὶ σπουδῆς πολλῆς καὶ βουλῆς ἀγαθῆς τὰ παρόντα πράγματα προσδεῖσθαι. τίνος; εἴπω κελεύετε; καὶ οὐκ ὀργιεῖσθε;”Ἐκ τοῦ Γραμματείου Ἀναγιγνώσκει”
[46] [You know it yourselves. For why should you bear the whole blame, when all the other Greeks are just as bad as you? That is why I assert that the present crisis calls for earnest zeal and wise counsel. What counsel?]6 Do you want me to tell you, and will you promise not to be angry?” [He reads from an official record] “7
[47] ἔστι τοίνυν τις εὐήθης λόγος παρὰ τῶν παραμυθεῖσθαι βουλομένων τὴν πόλιν, ὡς ἄρ᾽ οὔπω Φίλιππός ἐστιν οἷοί ποτ᾽ ἦσαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, οἳ θαλάττης μὲν ἦρχον καὶ γῆς ἁπάσης, βασιλέα δὲ σύμμαχον εἶχον, ὑφίστατο δ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτούς: ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ἠμύνατο κἀκείνους ἡ πόλις καὶ οὐκ ἀνηρπάσθη. ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἁπάντων ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν πολλὴν εἰληφότων ἐπίδοσιν, καὶ οὐδὲν ὁμοίων ὄντων τῶν νῦν τοῖς πρότερον, οὐδὲν ἡγοῦμαι πλέον ἢ τὰ τοῦ πολέμου κεκινῆσθαι κἀπιδεδωκέναι.
[47] Now there is a foolish argument advanced by those who want to reassure the citizens. Philip, they say, after all is not yet what the Lacedaemonians were; they were masters of every sea and land; they enjoyed the alliance of the king of Persia; nothing could stand against them: and yet our city defended itself even against them and was not overwhelmed. But for my own part, while practically all the arts have made a great advance and we are living today in a very different world from the old one, I consider that nothing has been more revolutionized and improved than the art of war.
[48] πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀκούω Λακεδαιμονίους τότε καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἄλλους, τέτταρας μῆνας ἢ πέντε, τὴν ὡραίαν αὐτήν, ἐμβαλόντας ἂν καὶ κακώσαντας τὴν χώρα�
� ὁπλίταις καὶ πολιτικοῖς στρατεύμασιν ἀναχωρεῖν ἐπ᾽ οἴκου πάλιν: οὕτω δ᾽ ἀρχαίως εἶχον, μᾶλλον δὲ πολιτικῶς, ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ χρημάτων ὠνεῖσθαι παρ᾽ οὐδενὸς οὐδέν, ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι νόμιμόν τινα καὶ προφανῆ τὸν πόλεμον.
[48] For in the first place I am informed that in those days the Lacedaemonians, like everyone else, would spend the four or five months of the summer “season” in invading and laying waste the enemy’s territory with heavy infantry and levies of citizens, and would then retire home again; and they were so old-fashioned, or rather such good citizens,8 that they never used money to buy an advantage from anyone, but their fighting was of the fair and open kind.
[49] νυνὶ δ᾽ ὁρᾶτε μὲν δήπου τὰ πλεῖστα τοὺς προδότας ἀπολωλεκότας, οὐδὲν δ᾽ ἐκ παρατάξεως οὐδὲ μάχης γιγνόμενον: ἀκούετε δὲ Φίλιππον οὐχὶ τῷ φάλαγγ᾽ ὁπλιτῶν ἄγειν βαδίζονθ᾽ ὅποι βούλεται, ἀλλὰ τῷ ψιλούς, ἱππέας, τοξότας, ξένους, τοιοῦτον ἐξηρτῆσθαι στρατόπεδον.
[49] But now you must surely see that most disasters are due to traitors, and none are the result of a regular pitched battle. On the other hand you hear of Philip marching unchecked, not because he leads a phalanx of heavy infantry, but because he is accompanied by skirmishers, cavalry, archers, mercenaries, and similar troops.
[50] ἐπειδὰν δ᾽ ἐπὶ τούτοις πρὸς νοσοῦντας ἐν αὑτοῖς προσπέσῃ καὶ μηδεὶς ὑπὲρ τῆς χώρας δι᾽ ἀπιστίαν ἐξίῃ, μηχανήματ᾽ ἐπιστήσας πολιορκεῖ. καὶ σιωπῶ θέρος καὶ χειμῶνα, ὡς οὐδὲν διαφέρει, οὐδ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐξαίρετος ὥρα τις ἣν διαλείπει.
[50] When, relying on this force, he attacks some people that is at variance with itself, and when through distrust no one goes forth to fight for his country, then he brings up his artillery and lays siege. I need hardly tell you that he makes no difference between summer and winter and has no season set apart for inaction.
[51] ταῦτα μέντοι πάντας εἰδότας καὶ λογιζομένους οὐ δεῖ προσέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον εἰς τὴν χώραν, οὐδ᾽ εἰς τὴν εὐήθειαν τὴν τοῦ τότε πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πολέμου βλέποντας ἐκτραχηλισθῆναι, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐκ πλείστου φυλάττεσθαι τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ ταῖς παρασκευαῖς, ὅπως οἴκοθεν μὴ κινήσεται σκοποῦντας, οὐχὶ συμπλακέντας διαγωνίζεσθαι.
[51] Since, however, you all know this, you must take it into account and not let the war pass into your own country; you must not invite catastrophe through keeping your eyes fixed on the simple strategy of your old war with the Lacedaemonians, but arrange your political affairs and your military preparations so that your line of defence may be as far away from Athens as possible, give him no chance of stirring from his base, and never come to close grips with him.
[52] πρὸς μὲν γὰρ πόλεμον πολλὰ φύσει πλεονεκτήμαθ᾽ ἡμῖν ὑπάρχει, ἄν περ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ποιεῖν ἐθέλωμεν ἃ δεῖ, ἡ φύσις τῆς ἐκείνου χώρας, ἧς ἄγειν καὶ φέρειν ἔστι πολλὴν καὶ κακῶς ποιεῖν, ἄλλα μυρία: εἰς δ᾽ ἀγῶνα ἄμεινον ἡμῶν ἐκεῖνος ἤσκηται.
[52] For so far as a campaign is concerned, provided, men of Athens, we are willing to do what is necessary, we have many natural advantages, such as the nature of his territory, much of which may be harried and devastated, and countless others; but for a pitched battle he is in better training than we are.
[53] οὐ μόνον δὲ δεῖ ταῦτα γιγνώσκειν, οὐδὲ τοῖς ἔργοις ἐκεῖνον ἀμύνεσθαι τοῖς τοῦ πολέμου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ λογισμῷ καὶ τῇ διανοίᾳ τοὺς παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντας μισῆσαι, ἐνθυμουμένους ὅτι οὐκ ἔνεστι τῶν τῆς πόλεως ἐχθρῶν κρατῆσαι, πρὶν ἂν τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει κολάσηθ᾽ ὑπηρετοῦντας ἐκείνοις.
[53] But it is not enough to adopt these suggestions, nor even to oppose him with active military measures, but both from calculation and on principle you must show your hatred of those who speak publicly on his behalf; and you must reflect that it is impossible to defeat the enemies of our city until you have chastised those who within our very walls make themselves their servants.
[54] ὃ μὰ τὸν Δία καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους θεοὺς οὐ δυνήσεσθ᾽ ὑμεῖς ποιῆσαι, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τοῦτ᾽ ἀφῖχθε μωρίας ἢ παρανοίας ἢ οὐκ ἔχω τί λέγω （πολλάκις γὰρ ἔμοιγ᾽ ἐπελήλυθε καὶ τοῦτο φοβεῖσθαι, μή τι δαιμόνιον τὰ πράγματ᾽ ἐλαύνῃ）, ὥστε λοιδορίας, φθόνου, σκώμματος, ἧστινος ἂν τύχηθ᾽ ἕνεκ᾽ αἰτίας ἀνθρώπους μισθωτούς, ὧν οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἀρνηθεῖεν ἔνιοι ὡς οὐκ εἰσὶ τοιοῦτοι, λέγειν κελεύετε, καὶ γελᾶτε, ἄν τισι λοιδορηθῶσιν.
[54] And that, as all Heaven is my witness, you will never be able to do; but you have reached such a height of folly or of madness or — I know not what to call it, for this fear too has often haunted me, that some demon is driving you to your doom, that from love of calumny or envy or ribaldry, or whatever your motive may be, you clamor for a speech from these hirelings, some of whom would not even disclaim that title, and you derive amusement from their vituperations.
[55] καὶ οὐχί πω τοῦτο δεινόν, καίπερ ὂν δεινόν: ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ πλείονος ἀσφαλείας πολιτεύεσθαι δεδώκατε τούτοις ἢ τοῖς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν λέγουσιν. καίτοι θεάσασθε ὅσας συμφορὰς παρασκευάζει τὸ τῶν τοιούτων ἐθέλειν ἀκροᾶσθαι. λέξω δ᾽ ἔργα ἃ πάντες εἴσεσθε.
[55] This is serious enough, but there is worse to follow; for you have granted to these men more security for the pursuance of their policy than to your own defenders. Yet mark what troubles are in store for those who lend an ear to such counsellors. I will mention some facts which will be familiar to you all.
[56] ἦσαν ἐν Ὀλύνθῳ τῶν ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν τινὲς μὲν Φιλίππου καὶ πάνθ᾽ ὑπηρετοῦντες ἐκείνῳ, τινὲς δὲ τοῦ βελτίστου καὶ ὅπως μὴ δουλεύσουσιν οἱ πολῖται πράττοντες. πότεροι δὴ τὴν πατρίδ᾽ ἐξώλεσαν; ἢ πότεροι τοὺς ἱππέας προὔδοσαν, ὧν προδοθέντων Ὄλυνθος ἀπώλετο; οἱ τὰ Φιλίππου φρονοῦντες, καὶ ὅτ᾽ ἦν ἡ πόλις τοὺς τὰ βέλτιστα λέγοντας συκοφαντοῦντες καὶ διαβάλλοντες οὕτως, ὥστε τόν γ᾽ Ἀπολλωνίδην καὶ ἐκβαλεῖν ὁ δῆμος ὁ τῶν Ὀλυνθίων ἐπείσθη.
[56] At Olynthus there were two parties in the state: Philip’s men, entirely subservient to him, and the patriots, striving to preserve the freedom of their countrymen. Which, pray, ruined their country? Which betrayed the cavalry, whose betrayal sealed the doom of Olynthus? The partisans of Philip; the men who, when the city was still standing, tried to defame and slander the patriotic statesmen, until the Olynth
ian democracy was actually induced to expel Apollonides.9
[57] οὐ τοίνυν παρὰ τούτοις μόνον τὸ ἔθος τοῦτο πάντα κάκ᾽ εἰργάσατο, ἄλλοθι δ᾽ οὐδαμοῦ: ἀλλ᾽ ἐν Ἐρετρίᾳ, ἐπειδὴ ἀπαλλαγέντος Πλουτάρχου καὶ τῶν ξένων ὁ δῆμος εἶχε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν Πορθμόν, οἱ μὲν ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἦγον τὰ πράγματα, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ Φίλιππον. ἀκούοντες δὲ τούτων τὰ πολλά, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ πάνθ᾽ οἱ ταλαίπωροι καὶ δυστυχεῖς Ἐρετριεῖς, τελευτῶντες ἐπείσθησαν τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν λέγοντας ἐκβαλεῖν.
[57] Now it was not at Olynthus only that this habit produced every kind of evil result; but at Eretria, when the democrats, ridding themselves of Plutarchus and his mercenaries, held the city together with Porthmus, some of them were for handing the government over to you, others to Philip. The latter on most points, or rather on all, gained the ear of the sorely tried and ill-starred Eretrians, and at last persuaded them to expel their real champions.