Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  εὐφροσύνας κοσμεῖν δαιτὸς ἐν ἡσυχίῃ.

  ...

  πλουτοῦσιν δ᾽ ἀδίκοις ἔργμασι πειθόμενοι.

  ...

  οὔθ᾽ ἱερῶν κτεάνων οὔτε τι δημοσίων

  φειδόμενοι †κλέπτουσιν ἐφ᾽ ἁρπαγῇ† ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος,

  οὐδὲ φυλάσσονται σεμνὰ θέμεθλα Δίκης,

  ἣ σιγῶσα σύνοιδε τὰ γιγνόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα,

  τῷ δὲ χρόνῳ πάντως ἦλθ᾽ ἀποτεισομένη.

  τοῦτ᾽ ἤδη πάσῃ πόλει ἔρχεται ἕλκος ἄφυκτον,

  εἰς δὲ κακὴν ταχέως †ἤλυθε† δουλοσύνην,

  ἢ στάσιν ἔμφυλον πόλεμόν θ᾽ εὕδοντ᾽ ἐπεγείρει,

  ὃς πολλῶν ἐρατὴν ὤλεσεν ἡλικίην.

  ἐκ γὰρ δυσμενέων ταχέως πολυήρατον ἄστυ

  τρύχεται ἐν συνόδοις τοῖς ἀδικοῦσι φίλαις.

  ταῦτα μὲν ἐν δήμῳ στρέφεται κακά: τῶν δὲ πενιχρῶν

  ἱκνοῦνται πολλοὶ γαῖαν ἐς ἀλλοδαπήν,

  πραθέντες δεσμοῖσί τ᾽ ἀεικελίοισι δεθέντες.

  ...

  οὕτω δημόσιον κακὸν ἔρχεται οἴκαδ᾽ ἑκάστῳ,

  αὔλειοι δ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔχειν οὐκ ἐθέλουσι θύραι,

  ὑψηλὸν δ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἕρκος ὑπέρθορεν, εὗρε δὲ πάντως,

  εἰ καί τις φεύγων ἐν μυχῷ ᾖ θαλάμου.

  ταῦτα διδάξαι θυμὸς Ἀθηναίους με κελεύει,

  ὡς κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομίη παρέχει,

  εὐνομίη δ᾽ εὔκοσμα καὶ ἄρτια πάντ᾽ ἀποφαίνει,

  καὶ θαμὰ τοῖς ἀδίκοις ἀμφιτίθησι πέδας,

  τραχέα λειαίνει, παύει κόρον, ὕβριν ἀμαυροῖ,

  αὐαίνει δ᾽ ἄτης ἄνθεα φυόμενα,

  εὐθύνει δὲ δίκας σκολιάς, ὑπερήφανά τ᾽ ἔργα

  πραΰνει, παύει δ᾽ ἔργα διχοστασίης,

  παύει δ᾽ ἀργαλέης ἔριδος χόλον: ἔστι δ᾽ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς

  πάντα κατ᾽ ἀνθρώπους ἄρτια καὶ πινυτά.

  “Solon

  [255] What we require, Aeschines, is not oratory with enfolded hands, but diplomacy with enfolded hands. But in Macedonia you held out your hands, turned them palm upwards, and brought shame upon your countrymen, and then here at home you talk magniloquently; you practise and declaim some miserable fustian, and think to escape the due penalty of your heinous crimes, if you only don your little skull-cap, take your constitutional, and abuse me. Now read.

  “ Solon’s Elegiacs Not by the doom of Zeus, who ruleth all,

  Not by the curse of Heaven shall Athens fall.

  Strong in her Sire, above the favored land

  Pallas Athene lifts her guardian hand.

  No; her own citizens with counsels vain

  Shall work her rain in their quest of gain;

  Dishonest demagogues her folk misguide,

  Foredoomed to suffer for their guilty pride.

  Their reckless greed, insatiate of delight,

  Knows not to taste the frugal feast aright;

  Th’ unbridled lust of gold, their only care,

  Nor public wealth nor wealth divine will spare.

  Now here, now there, they raven, rob and seize,

  Heedless of Justice and her stern decrees,

  Who silently the present and the past

  Reviews, whose slow revenge o’ertakes at last.

  On every home the swift contagion falls,

  Till servitude a free-born race enthralls.

  Now faction reigns now wakes the sword of strife,

  And comely youth shall pay its toll of life;

  We waste our strength in conflict with our kin,

  And soon our gates shall let the foeman in.

  Such woes the factious nation shall endure;

  A fate more hard awaits the hapless poor;

  For them, enslaved, bound with insulting chains,

  Captivity in alien lands remains.

  To every hearth the public curse extends;

  The courtyard gate no longer safety lends;

  Death leaps the wall, nor shall he shun the doom

  Who flies for safety to his inmost room.

  Ye men of Athens, listen while I show

  How many ills from lawless licence flow.

  Respect for Law shall check your rising lust,

  Humble the haughty, fetter the unjust,

  Make the rough places plain, bid envy cease,

  Wither infatuation’s fell increase,

  Make crooked judgement straight, the works prevent

  Of insolence and sullen discontent,

  And quench the fires of strife. In Law we find

  The wisdom and perfection of Mankind.

  “

  Solon

  [256] ἀκούετ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀνθρώπων οἷα Σόλων λέγει, καὶ περὶ τῶν θεῶν, οὕς φησι τὴν πόλιν σῴζειν. ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἀεὶ μὲν ἀληθῆ τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ βούλομαι, ὡς ἄρ᾽ οἱ θεοὶ σῴζουσιν ἡμῶν τὴν πόλιν: τρόπον δέ τιν᾽ ἡγοῦμαι καὶ τὰ νῦν συμβεβηκότα πάντ᾽ ἐπὶ ταῖς εὐθύναις ταυταισὶ δαιμονίας τινὸς εὐνοίας ἔνδειγμα τῇ πόλει γεγενῆσθαι.

  [256] You have heard, men of Athens, what Solon says of men of such character, and of the gods who protect our city. That saying about the protection of our city by the gods is, as I hope and firmly believe, eternally true; and in a manner I think that even the events of this scrutiny furnish the commonwealth with a new example of the divine favor.

  [257] σκοπεῖτε γάρ. ἄνθρωπος πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ πρεσβεύσας, καὶ χώρας ἐκδεδωκὼς ἐν αἷς τοὺς θεοὺς ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων τιμᾶσθαι προσῆκεν, ἠτίμωσ᾽ ὑπακούσαντά τιν᾽ αὐτοῦ κατήγορον. ἵνα τί; ἵνα μήτ᾽ ἐλέου μήτε συγγνώμης ἐφ᾽ οἷς αὐτὸς ἠδίκηκεν τύχῃ. ἀλλὰ καὶ κατηγορῶν ἐκείνου κακῶς λέγειν προείλετ᾽ ἐμέ, καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ δήμῳ γραφὰς ἀποίσειν καὶ τοιαῦτ᾽ ἠπείλει. ἵνα τί; ἵν᾽ ὡς μετὰ πλείστης συγγνώμης παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ὁ τὰ τούτου πονηρεύματ᾽ ἀκριβέστατ᾽ εἰδὼς ἐγὼ καὶ παρηκολουθηκὼς ἅπασι κατηγορῶ.

  [257] For consider this: a man who had scandalously misconducted his embassy, and who had given away whole provinces in which the gods should have been worshipped by you and your allies, disfranchised one who had prosecuted him at duty’s call. And all for what? That he himself may win neither compassion nor indulgence for his own transgressions. Moreover, in accusing him, he went out of his way to speak evil of me, and again at the Assembly he declared he would lay an indictment, with other such threats. And why? In order that you may extend your best indulgence to me when I, who have the most accurate knowledge of his villainies, and have watched him closely throughout, appear as his prosecutor.

  [258] ἀλλὰ καὶ διακρουόμε�
�ος πάντα τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τοιοῦτον ὑπῆκται καιρὸν ἐν ᾧ τῶν ἐπιόντων ἕνεκα, εἰ μηδενὸς ἄλλου, οὐχ οἷόν τ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀσφαλὲς ὑμῖν δεδωροδοκηκότα τοῦτον ἀθῷον ἐᾶσαι: ἀεὶ μὲν γάρ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, προσήκει μισεῖν καὶ κολάζειν τοὺς προδότας καὶ δωροδόκους, μάλιστα δὲ νῦν ἐπὶ καιροῦ τοῦτο γένοιτ᾽ ἂν καὶ πάντας ὠφελήσειεν ἀνθρώπους κοινῇ.

  [258] Again, thanks to his continual evasions, he has at last been brought to trial at the very moment when, for the sake of the future if for no other reason, you cannot possibly, or consistently with your own security, allow a man so steeped in corruption to go scot-free; for, while it is always your duty, men of Athens, to abhor and to chastise traitors and bribe-mongers, a conviction at this crisis will be peculiarly seasonable and profitable to all mankind.

  [259] νόσημα γάρ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, δεινὸν ἐμπέπτωκεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ χαλεπὸν καὶ πολλῆς τινὸς εὐτυχίας καὶ παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐπιμελείας δεόμενον. οἱ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι γνωριμώτατοι καὶ προεστάναι τῶν κοινῶν ἀξιούμενοι, τὴν αὑτῶν προδιδόντες ἐλευθερίαν οἱ δυστυχεῖς, αὐθαίρετον αὑτοῖς ἐπάγονται δουλείαν, Φιλίππῳ ξενίαν καὶ ἑταιρίαν καὶ φιλίαν καὶ τοιαῦθ᾽ ὑποκοριζόμενοι: οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ καὶ τὰ κύρι᾽ ἅττα ποτ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἐν ἑκάστῃ τῶν πόλεων, οὓς ἔδει τούτους κολάζειν καὶ παραχρῆμ᾽ ἀποκτιννύναι, τοσοῦτ᾽ ἀπέχουσι τοῦ τοιοῦτόν τι ποιεῖν ὥστε θαυμάζουσι καὶ ζηλοῦσι καὶ βούλοιντ᾽ ἂν αὐτὸς ἕκαστος τοιοῦτος εἶναι.

  [259] A strange and distressing epidemic, men of Athens, has invaded all Greece, calling for extraordinary good fortune, and for the most anxious treatment on your part. The magnates of the several cities, who are entrusted with political authority, are betraying their own independence, unhappy men! They are imposing on themselves a servitude of their own choosing, disguising it by specious names, as the friendship of Philip, fraternity, good-fellowship, and such flummery. The rest of the people, and all the various authorities of the several states, instead of chastising these persons and putting them to death on the spot, as they ought, are filled with admiration and envy, and would all like to be Philip’s friends too.

  [260] καίτοι τοῦτο τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ζηλώματα Θετταλῶν μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, μέχρι μὲν χθὲς ἢ πρώην τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἀξίωμ᾽ ἀπωλωλέκει, νῦν δ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν παραιρεῖται: τὰς γὰρ ἀκροπόλεις αὐτῶν ἐνίων Μακεδόνες φρουροῦσιν: εἰς Πελοπόννησον δ᾽ εἰσελθὸν τὰς ἐν Ἤλιδι σφαγὰς πεποίηκε, καὶ τοσαύτης παρανοίας καὶ μανίας ἐνέπλησε τοὺς ταλαιπώρους ἐκείνους ὥσθ᾽, ἵν᾽ ἀλλήλων ἄρχωσι καὶ Φιλίππῳ χαρίζωνται, συγγενεῖς αὑτῶν καὶ πολίτας μιαιφονεῖν.

  [260] Yet this infatuation, this hankering after Philip, men of Athens, until very recently had only destroyed the predominance of the Thessalians and their national prestige, but now it is already sapping their independence, for some of their citadels are actually garrisoned by Macedonians. It has invaded Peloponnesus and caused the massacres at Elis. It infected those unhappy people with such delirious insanity that, to overmaster one another and to gratify Philip, they stained their hands with the blood of their own kindred and fellow-citizens.

  [261] καὶ οὐδ᾽ ἐνταῦθ᾽ ἕστηκεν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν εἰσελθὸν πάντ᾽ ἄνω καὶ κάτω τἀκεῖ πεποίηκε, καὶ νῦν Ἀρκάδων πολλοί, προσῆκον αὐτοῖς ἐπ᾽ ἐλευθερίᾳ μέγιστον φρονεῖν ὁμοίως ὑμῖν （μόνοι γὰρ πάντων αὐτόχθονες ὑμεῖς ἐστε κἀκεῖνοι） Φίλιππον θαυμάζουσι καὶ χαλκοῦν ἱστᾶσι καὶ στεφανοῦσι, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον, ἂν εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἴῃ, δέχεσθαι ταῖς πόλεσιν εἰσὶν ἐψηφισμένοι.

  [261] It has not stopped there. It has entered Arcadia, and turned Arcadian politics upside down; and now many of that nation, who ought to pride themselves as highly as you upon their independence — for you and they are the only indigenous peoples in Greece — admire Philip, set up his effigy in bronze, decorate it with garlands, and, to crown all, have enacted a decree that, if he ever visits Peloponnesus, he shall be made welcome within their walls. The Argives have followed their example.

  [262] ταὐτὰ δὲ ταῦτ᾽ Ἀργεῖοι. ταῦτα νὴ τὴν Δήμητρα, εἰ δεῖ μὴ ληρεῖν, εὐλαβείας οὐ μικρᾶς δεῖται, ὡς βαδίζον γε κύκλῳ καὶ δεῦρ᾽ ἐλήλυθεν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὸ νόσημα τοῦτο. ἕως οὖν ἔτ᾽ ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ, φυλάξασθε καὶ τοὺς πρώτους εἰσαγαγόντας ἀτιμώσατε: εἰ δὲ μή, σκοπεῖθ᾽ ὅπως μὴ τηνικαῦτ᾽ εὖ λέγεσθαι δόξει τὰ νῦν εἰρημένα, ὅτ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὅ τι χρὴ ποιεῖν ἕξετε.

  [262] Holy Mother Earth! if I am to speak as a sane man, we stand in need of the utmost vigilance, when this infection, moving in its circuit, has invaded our own city. Therefore take your precautions now, while we are still secure. Let the men who have brought it here be punished with infamy. If not, beware lest you discern the wisdom of my words too late, when you have lost the power of doing what you ought.

  [263] οὐχ ὁρᾶθ᾽ ὡς ἐναργές, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ σαφὲς παράδειγμ᾽ οἱ ταλαίπωροι γεγόνασιν Ὀλύνθιοι; οἳ παρ᾽ οὐδὲν οὕτως ὡς τὸ τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν ἀπολώλασιν οἱ δείλαιοι. ἔχοιτε δ᾽ ἂν ἐξετάσαι καθαρῶς ἐκ τῶν συμβεβηκότων αὐτοῖς. ἐκεῖνοι γάρ, ἡνίκα μὲν τετρακοσίους ἱππέας ἐκέκτηντο μόνον καὶ σύμπαντες οὐδὲν ἦσαν πλείους πεντακισχιλίων τὸν ἀριθμόν, οὔπω Χαλκιδέων πάντων εἰς ἓν συνῳκισμένων,

  [263] Do you not see, men of Athens, what a conspicuous and striking example is offered by those miserable Olynthians, who owe their rain, unhappy men, to nothing so much as to such conduct as I have described? You may easily discover the truth by a review of their experience. At the time when their cavalry was only four hundred strong, and their whole force numbered no more than five thousand, for there was then no coalition of all the Chalcidians,

  [264] Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐλθόντων πολλῇ καὶ πεζῇ καὶ ναυτικῇ δυνάμει （ἴστε γὰρ δήπου τοῦθ᾽ ὅτι γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἦρχον ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν Λακεδαιμόνιοι κατ᾽ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους）, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως τηλικαύτης ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐλθούσης δυνάμεως οὔτε τὴν πόλιν οὔτε φρούριον οὐδὲν ἀπώλεσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μάχας πολλὰς ἐκράτησαν καὶ τρεῖς τῶν πολεμάρχων ἀπέκτειναν καὶ τ
ὸ τελευταῖον, ὅπως ἐβούλοντο, οὕτω τὸν πόλεμον κατέθεντο.

  [264] they were invaded by the Lacedaemonians with a large force, both naval and military; and you will remember that in those days the Lacedaemonians may be said to have held command both of land and of sea. Yet in spite of the strength of the attacking force, they never lost a town or even an outpost, they won many engagements, they slew three of the enemy commanders, and finally brought the war to an end on their own terms.

  [265] ἐπειδὴ δὲ δωροδοκεῖν ἤρξαντό τινες, καὶ δι᾽ ἀβελτερίαν οἱ πολλοί, μᾶλλον δὲ διὰ δυστυχίαν, τούτους πιστοτέρους ἡγήσαντο τῶν ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν λεγόντων, καὶ Λασθένης μὲν ἤρεψε τὴν οἰκίαν τοῖς ἐκ Μακεδονίας ξύλοις, Εὐθυκράτης δὲ βοῦς ἔτρεφεν πολλὰς τιμὴν οὐδενὶ δούς, ἕτερος δέ τις ἧκεν ἔχων πρόβατα, ἄλλος δέ τις ἵππους, οἱ δὲ πολλοί, καὶ καθ᾽ ὧν ταῦτ᾽ ἐγίγνετο, οὐχ ὅπως ὠργίζοντο ἢ κολάζειν ἠξίουν τοὺς ταῦτα ποιοῦντας, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπέβλεπον, ἐζήλουν, ἐτίμων, ἄνδρας ἡγοῦντο: